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CHRIST'S 

SECOND COMING 

FULFILLED 



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Address orders to 
MARION MORRIS 

Winchester, Indiana 






Copyright, 19 17, hy 
MARION MORRIS 



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OCT 2 1917 p^^^^ °* 

«- \0\ I -vVm. Mitchell Printing Co., 
Greenfield, Ind. 



)Gi,A473779 



CHRIST'S SECOND COMING 
FULFILLED 

DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 



BY 

MARION MORRIS^ 

A LAYMAN 



IS IT INCREDIBLE? 

''Verily I say unto you, there are some of 
them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste 
of death, till they see the Son of Man coming in 
His kingdom/' (Matt. 16:28.) 



TO THE READER. 



The author desires to acknowledge his indebt- 
edness and to offer his thanks to all who have, in 
any way, contributed to this work. We have, of 
course, drawn on all available sources, yet for the 
proof of our position, we have relied almost 
wholly upon the Bible, believing it to be its own 
best evidence. Our aim, throughout, has been 
to state in a brief straightforward, yet in a kind 
and charitable manner, what we believe to be the 
true interpretation of the principal texts of the 
Scriptures in reference to the great subjects herein 
treated. 

The Scriptural quotations are mostly taken 
from the American Revised Version. Those 
taken from the Authorized Version are so desig- 
nated. 

''Since the sacred leaves to all are free. 
And men interpret texts, why should not we?'' 



PREFACE. 



''The weary centuries watch in vain 
The clouds of heaven for Him." 

— Whit tier. 

Generation after generation has looked to the 
future for the fulfillment of prophecies that have 
evidently been fulfilled, losing thereby much of 
the harmony, beauty and comfort in which the 
Scriptures abound. Hence come the many specu- 
lations concerning: 

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST, 
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT, 
THE END OF THE WORLD, 
THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW 

EARTH, 
DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION. 

It has been truly said that, ''He who sets one 
great truth afloat in the world serves his genera- 
tion." Although the author may not be able to do 
this, he hopes at least to make more real to the 
reader some of the great truths of the Bible 
which are already afloat. 



PREFACE 

We believe that the Son of Man came the sec- 
ond time, as He declared He would come, ''in the 
glory of His Father with His angels," and that 
He rendered ''unto every man according to his 
deeds/' Also that some of them who stood by and 
heard Jesus speak these words lived to see them 
fulfilled; and that Jesus did not teach that the 
passing away of heaven over our heads and earth 
under our feet would be simultaneous with His 
second coming, the judgment, and the ead of the 
world. 

As we understand it, the heaven and earth that 
was destined to pass away and to be superseded 
by a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwell- 
eth righteousness, was the old covenant with its 
priesthood and sacrifices and the earthy ungodly 
men of that generation, who believed neither the 
writings of Moses nor the words of Jesus. The 
old covenant was only a "copy and shadow of 
the heavenly things." It had, however, long been 
a heaven, though an imperfect one, to the true Is- 
raelite. But all these things were destined to 
give way to the new and perfect covenant in which 
iniquity is forgiven, and sin is forgotten, and 
there would be forthcoming "an elect race, a 
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for 
God's own possession." 



PREFACE 

It was the end of types, examples and shad- 
owy things. It was the consummation of all 
things that the prophets, apostles, and Jesus him- 
self, had, foretold of His coming, the judgment, 
and the end of the world. 

THE END OF THE WORLD 

''Then shall the end come' ; ''The end of all 
things is at hand''; "The last day"; "The last 
hour" ; and other Scriptural sayings of similar 
import, do not refer to the destruction, the end and 
desolation of this planet. Doubtless the physical 
heaven over our heads and the earth beneath our 
feet will pass away when they have served the 
purpose for which they were created. Probably 
this is the meaning of the words of Jesus, 
"Heaven and earth shall pass away," but the pass- 
ing away of these is not simultaneous with the 
second coming of Christ, the day of judgment, 
and the end of the world. 

God has given man a visible manifestation of 
the divine plan of redemption, of which the sec- 
ond coming of Christ wias the consummation. 

M. M. 

Winchester, Ind., January, 1917. 



CONTENTS. 



PA RT O N E 
CHRIST'S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

CHAPTER I. 

Not Peace but a Sword. 

Page 

The Second Coming Foretold 15 

Christ's Work 16 

Christ's Method 16 

Kingdom of Peace 18 

Signs of the Kingdom Fulfilled lb 

Christ Coming into the New Kingdom 20 

Character of the New Kingdom 20 

The Establishment of the New Kingdom and 

the Overthrow of the Old Powers 22 

The Overflowed World 23 

CHAPTER II. 

The Destruction of an Ungodly Race and the 
Establishment of the Inner Kingdom. 

Not Destruction as of Old ^ 26 

The Destruction of Them that Obey Not God. . 26 

The Disannulling of the Old Covenant 28 

The Consuming Fire of God's Jealousy 29 



CONTENTS 

Page 

His Coming and Judgment 31 

The Dawn of the Christian Era 34 

God's Deliverance 35 

CHAPTER III. 

The Period of Transition. 

The Fate of the Holy City that Had Become 

Unholy 37 

Confirming the Word by Signs 39 

The Gospel Preached to the Whole World 40 

Then Shall the End Come 42 

His Coming Expected by His Disciples 43 

Disciples and Prophets Not Mistaken 44 

The Time for the New Kingdom Had Come. . . 46 

CHAPTER IV. 

The Triumph of Christianity. 

The Gospels Indicate a Single Event 49 

The Confusion of Other Beliefs 52 

A More Hopeful View 53 

The New Covenant Maketh a New Heaven and 

a New Earth 56 

Although Sin May Increase for a Time God's 

Word Shall Triumph 58 

The Children of God to Become a World 

Power 60 

Not a New Gospel nor a New Faith but a 

Clearer Vision 62 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER V. 

Christ Came in the Generation then Living. 

Page 
The Assurance of His Coming in that Genera- 
tion 65 

The Need of His Coming at that Time 66 

Assurance that the Time Was at Hand 67 

The Blood of the Righteous as Additional Evi- 
dence 74 

The Certainty of His Coming and the Fulfill- 
ment of the Predictions 75 

The Meaning of the Symbol 78 

The Church of the Lord a Living Evidence. . . 79 

CHAPTER VI. 

Wonderful Christ. 

The New Covenant and the New Life 81 

Through Christ Man Reaches God 84 

The Work of Christianity 84 

The New Heaven and the New Earth 85 



PART TWO 

DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

CHAPTER I. 

The Resurrection of the Inward Man. 

Page 

Christ the First to Rise 87 

Twice Born and Once Risen Christ 88 

The Resurrection of the "Inward Man" 89 

The Voice of the Son of God 89 

The Physical Resurrection the Ojective of the 

Spiritual 91 

The Resurrection of the Dead Absolutely Es- 
sential 93 

The Resurrection of the Dead Most Beautiful 94 

The Resurrection of the Dead Is Restful 95 

The Resurrection of the Dead a Perennial Feast 

and Fountain 95 

CHAPTER II. 

No Resurrection for the Outward Man. 

"The Things Which Are Seen Are Temporal" 96 
Christ Is the Way and the Plan of Redemp- 
tion Is Found in Him 98 

That Which Is Born of the Flesh Is Flesh 98 

The Resurrection Seen in Nature .101 



CONTENTS 

Paul's Explanation of the Resurrection 102 

Irreconcilable from a Literal Viewpoint 105 

Paul's Desire 105 

The Destiny of the Outward Man 106 

CHAPTER III. 

The Sources of Death and the Resurrection. 

Page 

The Death of Adam lOV 

The Christ Life a Deathless Life 108 

Christ's Love for Man 109 

Transforming Power of Jesus 110 

Only Two Human Souls Created Ill 

The Old Creation Natural and Earthy Ill 

The New Creation Spiritual and Godlike 112 

Mortal and Immortal 114 

Sin and Death 115 

Physical Death No Detriment 116 

Soul Death the Only Evil 117 

Life Is Begotten of the Belief in the Son of 

Man 119 

Life Outside of Christ Is Doomed 120 



CHAPTER IV. 

Christ the Saviour of the Inner Man. 

Christ's Mission and Character 121 

The Man of Sorrows 123 

The Meaning of Death 124 



CONTENTS 

The New Body 125 

The Two Bridegrooms and the Two Brides 126 

The Inward Body 126 

The Natural Man and the Spiritual Man 127 

The Inner Temple Man's Greatest Treasure. .128 
The Death of the Outward Man Is of Little 

Concern 129 

Death and the Resurrection of the Inner 

Man 131 

Miscellany 135 



PART ONE 

CHRIST'S SECOND COMING 
FULFILLED 



PART ONE 

CHRIST'S SECOND COMING 
FULFILLED 



CHAPTER I 

NOT PEACE BUT A SWORD 

The Second Coming Foretold. 

"Tell us when shall these things be ? And what 
shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of 
the world?'' (Matt. 24: 3.) The answer, "Verily 
I say unto you, this generation shall not pass 
away till all these things be accomplished/' (Matt. 
24 :34.) God said to Abraham : "I will make of 
thee a great nation and in thy seed shall all the 
nations of the earth be blessed." And after many 
generations, "at the end of the ages", "in the eve- 
ning of the world", came the promised seed, — the 
long expected Messiah, "who was foreknown, in- 
deed, before the foundation of the world, but was 
manifested at the end of the times for your sake." 
(I Peter i : 20.) 

15 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Christ's Work. 

Christ left the glory which He had with the 
Father, taking the form of a servant, and while 
in this lowly form, — persecuted, hated, scoffed 
at and scorned by the authorities of the Jewish 
church, — He accomplished that which has taken 
deeper and deeper hold upon the minds of men as 
the centuries have passed. He came and sowed 
the good seed. The enemy sowed the tares, and 
the mixture was allowed to grow until the har- 
vest, then the Son of Man came the second time, 
not a little child heraled by the angels, but a King 
''with power and great glory and all the angels 
with Him" to execute His word, for ''this genera- 
tion," said He, "shall not pass away till all these 
things be accomplished." 

Christ's Method. 

John the Baptist said to the Pharisees and Sad- 
ucees, "Ye offspring of vipers! Who warned 
you to flee from the wrath to come ?" . . and, 
"even now the ax lieth at the root of the trees." 
"Every tree therefore that bringeth not forth 
good fruit is hewn down and cast into 
the fire." Again he declared that the Messiah 
who baptizes with the Holy Ghost baptizes also 

16 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

with fire ; "and He will gather His wheat into the 
garner but the chaff He wil burn up with un- 
quenchable fire/' 

"Think not," said Christ, "that I came to send 
peace on the earth : I came not to send peace but 
a sword." (Matt. lo: 34.) Again He asserted 
"I came to cast fire upon the earth ; and what do 
I desire if it is already kindled ?" . . "Think 
ye that I am come to give peace in the earth ? I 
tell you, Nay, but rather division." (Luke 
12:49-51.) 

By reference to Isaiah we find the follow- 
ing : "He will have indignation against His ene- 
mies. For, behold, Jehovah will come with fire, 
and His chariots shall be like the whirlwind, to 
render His anger with fierceness, and His rebuke 
with flames of fire. For by fire will Jehovah exe- 
cute judgment, and by His sword, upon all flesh ; 
and the slain of Jehovah shall be many." (Isaiah 
66: 14-16.) 

St. Paul stated: "If the number of the chil- 
dren of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the 
remnant that shall be saved: for the Lord will 
execute His word upon the earth, finishing it and 
cutting it short." (Rom. 9:27-28.) "You that 
are afflicted," also said Paul, "rest with us at the 
revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with 

17 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

the angels of His power in flaming fire, rendering 
vengeance to them that know not God, and to 
them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus : 
who shall suffer punishment even eternal destruc- 
tion from the face of the Lord and from the glory 
of His might/' (H Thess. i : 7-19.) 

''When therefore the Lord of the vineyard shall 
come," said Jesus, ''what will He do unto those 
husbandmen?" They say unto Him, "He will 
miserably destroy those miserable men, and will 
let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen." 
(Mat. 21:40-41.) And Jesus having reference 
to this event said, "These are days of vengeance 
that all things that are written may be fulfilled." 
(Luke 21 : 22.) 

Kingdom of Peace, 

To my mind these Scriptures clearly show that 
the reign of peace could not begin until after His 
Second Coming, and the "ax", the "sword" and 
the "fire" had accomplished their work, and all 
things which were written and prophesied had 
been fulfilled. 

"Nation shall rise against nation, and king- 
dom against kingdom, and there shall be famines 
and earthquakes in diverse places. But all these 
are the beginning of travail." (Matt. 24: 7-9.) 

18 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Signs of the New Kingdom Fulfilled. 
We quote the following- paragraph from 
Peloubet's Select Notes. ''Wars and Rumors of 
Wars." "Josephus gives an account of the trou- 
blous times before the fall of Jerusalem. The 
peace that prevailed over the world during 
Christ's life was soon broken. Rome had trou- 
blous times. Four Roman emperors were mur- 
dered in swift succession. But especially in Pal- 
estine the war fiend ran riot. The Jews them- 
selves were divided into contending factions, who 
slew each other by the thousands. The neighbor- 
ing nations joined one party or the other. Then 
the Jews revolted against the Romans, and the 
Roman armies overran the whole country. Blood 
flowed Hke water." ''Earthquakes" : "Perhaps 
no period in the world's history has ever been so 
marked by these convulsions as that which inter- 
venes between the Crucifixion and the destruction 
of Jerusalem." "Famines" : "A great famine, 
prophesied in Acts ii 126, ocurred A. D. 49, and 
another of the reign of Claudius, and mentioned 
by Josephus. A pestilence, A. D. 65, in a single 
autumn, carried off 30,000 persons at Rome. 
These are the beginnings of sorrows ; of travail, 
of that labor-pain of the world out of which the 
Kingdom of God is to be born." 

19 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Christ Coming Into the New Kingdom. 

''So Christ also, having been once ofTered to 
bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time, 
apart from sin, to them that wait for him, unto 
salvation." (Heb. 9 :28.) 

'That He may send the Christ," said Peter, 
"who hath been appointed for you, even Jesus ; 
whom the heaven must receive until the times of 
restoration of all things, whereof God spake by 
the mouth of His holy prophets that have been of 
old." (Acts 3: 20-21.) "But He," said Paul, 
"when He offered one sacrifice for sins forever, 
sat down on the right hand of God, henceforth 
expecting till His enemies be made the footstool 
of His feet." (Heb. 10 : 12-13.) And in the same 
generation in which "He had offered one sacri- 
fice for sins forever," He came the second time 
and fulfilled the words of the One Hundred and 
Tenth Psalm and made His enemies His foot- 
stool. 

Character of the New Kingdom. 

The nobleman who went into a far country to 
receive for himself a kingdom, as soon as he had 
gained possession of it, returned and reckoned 
with his "servants unto whom he had given the 

20 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

money, and ordered his enemies slain before him.'' 
(Luke 19.) 

The Son of Man shall send forth His angels, 
and they shall gather out of His kingdom all 
things that cause stumbling, and them that do 
iniquity, and shall cast them into the furnace of 
fire ; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of 
teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as 
the sun in the kingdom of their Father." (Matt. 
13: 41-42.) Then all the prophecies relating to 
the judgments of God were fulfilled, ''and the 
world in the church comes to be exchanged for 
the church in the world," and the religion of let- 
ter and type to be superseded by that of spirit 
and life. 

He came the second time to consummate the 
plan of redemption. "When these things begin 
to come to pass/' said Christ, ''look up and lift 
up your heads because your redemption draweth 
nigh." (Luke 21 : 28.) "Now is salvation nearer 
to us than when we first believed." (Rom. 13 : 11.) 
"Salvation from our enemies and from the hand 
af all that hate us." (Luke 1:7.) 

Again Paul says, "Waiting for our adoption, 
to- wit, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8 : 23), 
having reference to the body of believers — the 
Church. 

21 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

The Establishment of the New Kingdom and the 
Overthrow of the Old Powers. 

He came with power and great glory to vindi- 
cate His people, and cause the overthrow of the 
wicked, and to estabHsh the kingdom of right- 
eousness, peace and joy forevermore on the earth, 
and in earth, — in earthen vessels. 

Peter says, ''Whose sentence now from of old 
lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth 
not/' (H Peter 2:3.) 

This great event was the fulfillment of a proph- 
ecy more than three thousand years old. It came 
down through the ages undimmed by time. But 
it was the Son of Man who first clearly announced 
the coming retribution, for to proclaim the 
''day of vengeance'' was a part of the message 
that God sent Him to proclaim. (Isa. 61 : 2.) How 
clearly He proclaimed it may be seen in the Syn- 
optic Gospels. 

That Jesus and His diciples did not have ref- 
erence to the passing away of the actual heavens 
above us and the earth beneath, in connection with 
His second coming, the Bible, as we understand it, 
clearly proves. We neither know how long this 
sphere has been rolling in its orbit, nor how long 
it will continue thus to roll. The Bible is as silent 

22 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

in respect to its ending as it is with regard to its 
beginning. 

But not so with the heaven and earth to which 
Jesus and His disciples referred. As we under- 
stand it, they had reference to the old covenant, 
and the destruction and dispersion of ungodly 
men. While the old covenant was w^axing old 
and nigh unto vanishing away, the New Covenant 
was prepared to supersede it and to be estab- 
lished at the final passing away of the old. The 
new Israel was also forming and ready to come 
into their promised inheritance, and like the Israel 
of old, gradually to take possession of the land, 
so that, as the old heaven and earth passed away, 
the new heaven and the new earth superseded 
them. 

The Overflozved World. 

In the third chapter of II Peter the apostle de- 
clares that a world perished in the waters of a 
flood, and in reply to the mockers of the last 
days w^ho asked, ''Where is the promise of his 
coming?'' he says, 'Tor this they wilfully forget, 
that there were heavens from of old, and an earth 
compacted out of water and amidst water, by the 
word of God ; by which means the world that then 
was, being overflowed with water, perished ; but 

23 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the 
same word have been stored up for fire, being re- 
served against the day of judgment and destruc- 
tion of ungodly men/' (II Peter 3 : 5-7.) 

Here we see that Peter says the world that then 
was, being overflowed with water, perished. He 
did not have reference to the physical earth, seas 
and skies. The same physical heaven and earth 
that stood before the flood stands today. He had 
reference to the destruction of an ungodly race. 
The ungodly antediluvians who mocked at the 
warnings of Noah were suddenly destroyed ''and 
without remedy.'' So these scoflfers might ex- 
pect to perish by the judgments of God, but as 
the physical heaven and earth did not pass away 
in the waters of the flood, may we not reasonably 
conclude that Peter did not wish to say that the 
physical heaven and earth would perish at the 
coming of the Lord ? 

But nearly twenty-four centuries after the ante- 
deluvian world had been destroyed by the waters 
of a flood, another world was destroyed, not by 
the waters of a flood but by the "fires of His 
jealousy," ''by desolation and destruction, and the 
famine and the sword." 

But just as the earth that perished in the great 
deluge was earthy, ungodly men, so was the 

34 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

earth that was destroyed at the end of the world 
earthy ungodly men, and as the living earth per- 
ished in the great deep, in Sodom and Gomorrah, 
and in the Red Sea, so the living earth perished 
at the end of the world. ''O earth, earth, earth, 
hear the words of Jehovah." (Jer. 22 : 29.) 



25 



CHAPTER 11. 

THE DESTRUCTION OF AN UNGODLY RACE AND THE 
ESTABLISHMENT OF THE INNER KINGDOM. 

Not Destruction as of Old. 

God did not bring destruction upon the beasts 
of the field, nor the birds of the air as he did at 
the time of the great deluge, for "Jehovah said 
in his heart, T will not again curse the ground 
any more for man's sake, — neither will I smite 
any more everything living as I have done/ " 
(Gen. 8:21.) 

The Destruction of Them That Obey Not God. 

Time, and, we believe, the Scripture also, 
proves that Peter did not have in mind the burn- 
ing up of the immeasurable heavens above us, 
nor the ''everlasting hills'' about us when he said, 
'They shall give account to him that is ready to 
judge the living and the dead." 

"The time is come for judgment to begin at 
the house of God ; and if it begin first at us, what 
shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel 

of God?" 

26 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

*'The end of all things is at hand." 

Nor when he said : ''The day of the Lord will 
come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall 
pass away with a great noise, and the elements 
shall be dissolved with fervent heat. But accord- 
ing to his promise, we look for new heavens and 
a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.'' 
(II Peter— 3.) 

Peter evidently had reference to the fiery flames 
of that symbolic fire that Jesus had already kin- 
dled (Luke 12:49), which is also mentioned in 
Luke 3 : 16, 17; I Cor. 3 : 13 ; II Thes. i, 8, and 
other Scriptures of similar import both in the 
Old and New Testament, for, on the day of Pen- 
tecost in which Christianity was inaugurated, 
Peter looked down the centuries to far off gen- 
erations that should receive the promise, and said, 
"For to you is the promise, and to your children, 
and to all that are afar off, even as many as the 
Lord shall call unto him.'' (Acts 2 139.) 

Neither did Paul have reference to the removal 
or destruction of the material world, nor the 
planets over our heads, when he said: "Whose 
voice then shook the earth; but now he hath 
promised, saying, yet once more will I make the 
earth to tremble, not the earth only, but also the 

27 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING J^ULFILLED 

heaven. And this word, yet once more signifieth 
the removing of those things that are shaken, as 
of things that have been made, that those things 
which are not shaken may remain. Wherefore, 
receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let 
us have grace, whereby we may offer service 
well-pleasing to God with reverence and awe; 
for our God is a consuming fire." (Heb. 12:26, 
29.) 

The Disannulling of the Old Covenant. 

Paul had reference to the Old Covenant, the 
temporary or time covenant, which was not de- 
signed to be permanent, only a copy and shadow 
of the heavenly things; for he says: 'There is 
a disannulling of a foregoing commandment, be- 
cause of it weakness and unprofitableness, for the 
law made nothing perfect." (Heb. 7:18, 19.) J 
''For, if that first covenant had been faultless, 
then would no place have been sought for a 
second — but that which is becoming old and 
waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away." (Heb. 

8:7,13.) 

That Paul did not have reference to a removal 
of the earth beneath our feet nor to the starry 
heavens overhead is clear from the following 

Scriptures. 

28 



CHRIST'*S SECOND COMlNG FULFILLED 

''That in the ages to come he might show the 
exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward 
us in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 2\y), and "Unto 
him be the glory in the church, and in Christ 
Jesus unto all generations' for ever and ever." 
(Eph. 3:21.) 

The Consuming Fire of God's Jealousy, 

It is therefore clear that neither Peter nor Paul 
associated Christ's coming with the angels of His 
power in flaming fire, nor the removing of things 
shaken, with a change in the physical universe; 
nor did Jesus and His disciples, as we see it, have 
any more reference whatever to any physical 
change of the earth at His second coming, than 
did the prophet Isaiah at His first coming, as 
recorded by St. Luke. 

He says : "Make ye ready the way of the Lord. 
Make His paths straight. Every valley shall be 
filled, and every mountain and hill shall be 
brought low, and the crooked shall become 
straight, and the rough ways smooth, and all 
flesh shall see the salvation of God." (Luke 3: 

5,6.) 

The mountains and hills and valleys remain 
as they were when these words were first written. 

29 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

He had reference to a moral leveling and not the 
cutting down of mountains and hills and the fill- 
ing up of valleys. 

While literal fire was a large factor in the de- 
struction of Jerusalem, the holy temple and many 
persons, Zephaniah, the prophet, has probably 
made clearer than any other sacred writer the 
meaning of fire and earth in this event. 

He says : 'The whole land shall be devoured 
by the fire of His jelaousy for He will make an 
end, yea, a terrible end, of all them that dwell in 
the land.'' (Zeph. i : i8.) 'Tor My determina- 
tion is to gather the nations, that I may assemble 
the kingdoms to pour upon them Mine indigna- 
tion, even all My fierce anger ; for all the earth 
shall be devoured with the fire of My jealousy. 
For then will I turn to the people a pure language, 
that they may all call upon the name of Jehovah 
to serve Him with one consent.'' (Zeph. 3:8, 9.) 

Malachi, the last of the Old Testament pro- 
phets, speaks the same truth. He says : ''Be- 
hold the day cometh, it burneth as a furnace ; and 
all the proud and all that work wickedness, shall 
be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn 
them up, saith Jehovah of hosts, that it shall leave 
them neither root nor branch. But unto you that 
fear My name shall the sun of righteousness 

30 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

arise with healing in its wings ; and ye shall go 
forth and gambol as calves of the stall. And ye 
shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be 
ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that 
I make, saith Jehovah of hosts." (Mai. 4:3.) 

These Scriptures show very plainly that it was 
the earthy, ungodly men of which the prophets 
spake and not the earth beneath our feet. 

There is a limit to the forebearance of even 
the Infinite One. "He will not always chide,'' 
said David, "neither will He keep His anger 
forever." 

God gave "that crooked and perverse genera- 
tion" not only forty days but nearly forty years 
in which to repent and accept the preaching of 
one greater than Jonah that they might escape 
destruction, for it had been declared "that every 
soul that shall not hearken to that Prophet, shall 
be utterly destroyed from among the people." 
(Acts Z'^Z') 

His Coming and Judgment. 

But evil men waxed worse and worse and 
caused the love of many to grow cold. Finally 
His long suffering came to an end. The cries 
of His elect for deliverance from the hand of all 
their enemies had its effect. 

31 



Christ's second coming fulfilled 



"And shall not God/' says Jesus, "avenge His 
elect, that cry to Him day and night, and yet He 
is long suffering over them. I say unto you that 
He will avenge them speedily." (Luke i8: 7, 8.) 
Again He says : "Pray ye that your flight be 
not in the winter, neither on a Sabbath ; for then 
shall be great tribulation, such as hath not been 
from the beginning of the world until now, no, 
nor ever shall be/' Never again such great trib- 
ulation, not that there never would be greater loss 
of life and property. And like the waters of the 
great flood, it would suddenly come upon them. 

"Then shall two men be in the field — two 
women shall be grinding at the mill, one is taken 
and one is left/' One is taken and destroyed and 
the other is left untouched. 

This event the revelator saw in his vision and 
said : "The kings of the earth and the princes, 
and the chief captains, and the rich, and the 
strong, and every bondman and freeman hid 
themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the 
mountains ; and they say to the mountains and 
the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face 
of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the 
wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their 
wrath has come ; and who is able to stand ?' " 

(Rev. 6:15-17.) 

32 



christ'^s second coming fulfilled 



God began at a very early date to reveal unto 
His prophets the day of judgment and destruction 
of ungodly men. Enoch also, the seventh from 
Adam, prophesied of these, saying: ''Behold 
the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints, 
to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all 
that are ungoldly among them of all their ungodly 
deeds which they have ungodly committed, and 
of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners 
have spoken against Him." (Jude 14, 15.) 

Having the prophecies of Enoch, Moses, 
Isaiah, David, Ezekial, Daniel, Joel, Zephaniah, 
Malachi and others who spake of this great judg- 
ment, Peter could refer to the long lingering sen- 
tence and say, ''Whose sentence now from of old 
lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth 
not/' (H Peter 2:3), and Paul declared, "The 
wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.'' (I 
Thess. 2: 16), and Matthew, "But the king was 
wroth, and he sent his armies, and destroyed 
those murderers and burned their city. Then 
saith he to his servants, 'The wedding is ready,' 
but they that were bidden were not worthy." 
(Matt. 22:7, 8.) 

These Scriptures evidently have reference to 
the day of judgment, as do the parables of the 
tares of the field and of the net that was cast 

33 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

into the sea; and likewise those in the 24th and 
25th chapters of Matthew and other kindred 
Scriptures. 

Milton would have expressed a great truth of 
revelation had he said, "God did not/' instead of 
''God will not defer the vindication of the glory 
of His name." 

The Dawn of the Christian Era, 

That was the end of a long twilight of ever 
thickening gloom, which ended with the coming 
of the Bridegroom at ''midnight.'' 

Then came the dawn of a new day ; the bright- 
ening of the morning of the Christian era ; the es- 
tablishment of the unseen inner kingdom, the 
Eden of love, far exceeding the primeval Eden — 
the early dawn of the millenium, in which Christ 
is to reign not only a thousand years, but on and 
on. (See II Peter i :ii ; also Luke 1:33), ''for He 
is 'King, Priest and Prophet of His people for- 
evermore— the Lord of the hearts and minds of 
men, not the ruler over an outward kingdom on 
earth." 

Paul saw the approaching day and said : "The 
night is far spent, and the day is at hand." (Rom. 
13:12.) 

34 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

And Peter said : ''Whereunto ye do well that 
ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark 
place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise 
in your hearts/' (II Peter i : 19.) 

Zachariah looked down through nearly six cen- 
turies to the evening of the world, and saw the 
new unending day and said : ''It shall be one day 
which is known unto Jehovah ; not day, and not 
night; but it shall come to pass, that at evening 
time there shall be light/' (Zech. 14: 7.) 

God's Deliz'erance. 

Paul said in his epistle to the Romans, ''I have 
great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. 
For I could wish that I myself were anathema 
from Christ for my brethrens' sake, my kinsmen 
according to the flesh ; who are Israelites ; — of 
whom is Christ according to the flesh/' (Rom. 
9:1,2.) 

But a hardening, in part, befell the chosen 
people. Their eyes were blinded. ''They stum- 
bled at the stone of stumbling." "They knew not 
the time of their visitation," nor the time of their 
destruction until it came upon them. 

But before their final overthrow, God raised 
up "an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy 

35 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

nation," which they persecuted from city to city 
and caused them to cry out unto God day and 
night for deliverance, as did His people under 
the cruel taskmasters in Egypt. And as God came 
down and delivered His people and destroyed 
Pharoah and his mighty host in the Red Sea, so 
the Son of Man came down with his army of 
angels and delivered the new Israel and caused 
the overthrow of His enemies and all that lay 
across the pathway of the Kingdom of God. 



36 



CHAPTER III. 

THE PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 

The Fate of the Holy City That Had Become 
Unholy. 

Alas ! The Holy City whose very stones were 
dear to those that loved her, was holy no longer. 
The Son of Man had foretold this, the greatest 
of all tribulations. 'Tor when He drew nigh, 
He saw the city and wept over it, saying, Tf thou 
hadst known in this day, even thou, the things 
which belong unto peace ! But now they are hid 
from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon 
thee, when thine enemies shall cast up a bank 
about thee and compass thee round, and keep 
thee in on every side, and shall dash thee to the 
ground, and thy children with thee; and they 
shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, 
because thou knewest not the time of thy visita- 
tion.' '' (Luke 19: 41-44.) 

While on His last weary journey, Jesus turned 
unto the weeping women who were following 
Him and said, ''Daughters of Jerusalem, weep 
not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your 

37 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

children. For behold the days are coming, in 
which they shall say, 'Blessed are the barren, and 
the wombs that never bare, and the breasts that 
never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say 
to the mountains. Fall on us ; and to the hills, 
Cover us.' " (Luke 23 : 28-30.) 

Jesus had already declared that ''except those 
days had been shortened, no flesh would have 
been saved; but for the elect's sake, those days 
shall be shortened.'' (Matt. 4:22.) 

Paul, having this great tribulation in mind, ad- 
vised a temporary suspension of marriage and 
that those that had wives be as though they had 
none. (I Cor. 7.) 

"Behold," says he, "the goodness and severity 
of God; toward them that fell, severity; but to- 
ward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in 
His goodness ; otherwise thou also shalt be cut 
off, and they also, if they continue not in their 
unbelief, shall be grafted in." (Rom. 11 : 22-23.) 

And so God has revealed not only His great 
love for men, but also His great wrath against 
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, 
who hinder the truth in unrighteousness." (Rom. 
1-18.) It is as Browning has said: — 
'T spake as I saw, 
Airs love, yet all's law/' 
38 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Confirming the Word by Signs. 

There was an overlapping of the covenants 
from the Day of Pentecost when God began to 
write His law's upon the hearts of His people, 
until the fall of Judaism and the destruction of 
antichrists about thirty-seven years later. During 
this period of transition the preaching of the dis- 
ciples was accompanied by signs. Jesus said, 
''Lo, I am with you always, (all the days, marg.) 
even unto the end of the world." (Matt. 28-20.) 

Again He said : ''These signs shall accompany 
them that believe : In my name shall they cast 
out demons ; they shall speak with new tongues ; 
they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any 
deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them ; they 
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover, 
and they went forth, and preached everywhere, 
the Lord working with them, and confirming the 
word by the signs that followed.'' Mark 16: 
17, 18, also Matt. 10:8.) Heal the sick, raise 
the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. 

That the Lord wt>uld be with them to the end 
of the world, confirming the word by these mirac- 
ulous manifestations of His power, is clear. To 
me, it is also clear that some of the disciples who 
heard Jesus speak these parting words, lived to 

39 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

see the end of the world. '^But now once in the 
end of the world hath He appeared to put away 
sin by the sacrifice of Himself." (Heb. 9:26, 
A. V.) 

"Verily I say unto you. Ye shall not have gone 
through the cities of Israel till the Son of Man be 
come.'' (Matt. 10:23.) 

The Gospel Preached to the Whole World, 

"This gospel of the kingdom/' said Jesus, 
"shall be preached in the whole world for a testi- 
mony unto all nations; and then shall the end 
come." (Matt. 24:14.) 

That the gospel was preached in all the known 
world, and that it w\as accomplished in the gen- 
eration then living, the following Scriptures 
clearly show. Just before He was received up 
into heaven, Jesus said unto the little company of 
believers that were gathered around Him, "Ye 
shall receive power when the Holy Spirit is come 
upon you; and ye shall be My witnesses both in 
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and 
unto the uttermost part of the earth." (Acts 
1:8.) "And they went forth and preached every- 
where, the Lord working with them, and con- 
firming the word by the signs that followed," 
(Mark 16:20.) 

40 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

And after a few years, Paul, who ''labored 
more abundantly than they all,'' was enabled to 
say, ''First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ, 
for you all, that your faith is proclaimed through- 
out the whole world/' (Rom. i :8.) 

"But I say, did they not hear? Yea, verily, 
their sound went out into all the earth, and their 
words unto the ends of the world." (Rom. 
io:i8.) 

"According to the commandment of the eternal 
God, is made known unto all the nations." (Rom. 
16:26.) 

"Which is come unto you ; even as it is also in 
all the world bearing fruit and increasing." (Col. 

1:6.) 

"If so be that ye continue in the faith, grounded 
and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope 
of the gospel which ye heard, which was preached 
in all creation under heaven; whereof I, Paul, 
was made a minister." (Col. i : 23.) 

For the rapidity with which Christianity spread' 
over the world until the latter part of the first 
century, we have not only the words of Holy 
Writ, but also the words of Gibbon the His- 
torian. 

There is therefore abundant evidence that the 
41 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

gospel was preached in all the known world in 
that generation. 

The Lord Jesus Christ, the "J^st One/' could 
not, in justice, return to judge the world until 
all the world had heard the gospel. 

Then Shall the End Come, 

Although Jesus knew not the day nor the hour 
when these things which He predicted would be 
accomplished, yet he knew it would all be accom- 
plished in the existing generation, for he said to 
His disciples: 'This generation shall not pass 
away till all these things be accomplished." It 
is also evident that the disciples so understood it ; 
for while the signs that should precede His com- 
ing were being fulfilled, they sent letters to the 
churches throughout the land, declaring that 
'The coming of the Lord is at hand.'' (James 

5:8.) 

''Behold the Judge standeth before the doors." 
(James 5:9.) 

"The end of all things is at hand." (I Peter 

"Little children, it is the last hour; and as ye 
heard that antichrist cometh, even now there 
have arisen many antichrists; whereby we know 
that it is the last hour." (John 2: 18.) 

4'2 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

His Coming Expected By His Disciples. 

To Peter, the transfiguration of Christ on the 
holy mount was a guarantee of His coming. 
"We did not/' said he, "follow cunningly devised 
fables, when we made known unto you the power 
and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we 
were eye witnesses of His majesty." (H Peter 
i:i6.) 

Although the gospel which Paul preached 
came to Him "through revelation of Jesus 
Christ,'' it is of no less authority than that of the 
other apostles who journeyed with Jesus during 
His earthly ministry. 

When Paul wrote his epistle to the Thessalo- 
nians, he evidently expected a near return of the 
Lord. He says : "The God of peace Himself 
sanctify you wholly and may your spirit and soul 
and body be preserved entire, without blame at 
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful 
is he that calleth you who will also do it." 
(Thess. 5:13.) 

These epistles are the earliest of Paul's writings 
and in them he did not wish to say that "The day 
of the Lord is just at hand." (H Thess. 2 : 2.) 

Later on he wrote to the Corinthians, Phillip- 
43 



CHRIST S SECOND COMlNG FULFILLED 

ians and Hebrews^, saying, ''This I say, brethren, 
the time is shortened." (I. Cor. 7:29.) 

^The Lord is at hand.'' (Phil 4:4, 5.) 

''Exhorting one another ; and so much the more, 
as ye see the day drawing nigh.'' (Heb. 10:25.) 

'Tor yet a very little while. He that cometh 
shall come and shall not tarry." (Heb. 10:37.) 

Also the very last message of the Bible is "He 
who testifieth these things saith Yea; I come 
quickly. Amen ; Come, Lord Jesus. 

Disciples and Prophets Not Mistaken. 

We are not, it seems to me, justified in claiming 
that the disciples were mistaken, for Jesus had 
said to them, "When He, the Spirit of Truth, is 
come, he shall guide you into all the truth — and 
he shall declare unto you the things that are to 
come." (John 16: 13.) 

Paul says : "As touching the gospel which 
was preached by me, that it is not after man. For 
neither did I receive it from man, nor was I 
taught it, but it came to me through the revela- 
tion of Jesus Christ." (Gal. i : 11, 12.) 

The prophet Daniel evidently had a vision and 
a revelation of this great event. He says: "I 



* Probably to the Hebrews, for he was a "Hebrew of 
Hebrews," and had great sorrow and unceasing pain in His 
heart for them. (Rom. S.) 

44 



CHRIST^S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 



saw in the night visions, and behold, there came 
with the clouds of heaven one like unto a son of 
Man, and He came even unto the ancient of days, 
and they brought Him near before Him. And 
there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a 
kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and lan- 
guages should serve Him; His dominion is an 
everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, 
and His kingdom that which shall not be de- 
stroyed/' (Dan. 7:13, 14b.) 

In the twelfth chapter he says : 'There shall 
be a time of trouble, such as never was since 
there was a nation, even to that same time ; and 
at that time thy people shall be delivered, every 
one that shall be found written in the book . 
but thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal 
the book, even to the time of the end." ^ 

St. John, it is believed, was the only apostle 
who survived the fall of Jerusalem, and, it is also 
believed, that he wrote the book of Revelations 
about the year 68, two years prior to that time. 
That it was written a short time before the com- 
ing of the Lord and the fall of Jerusalem, the 
book itself is the best evidence, for in the begin- 
ning he says : 

''The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God 
45 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

gave Him to show unto His servants, even the 
things which must shortly come to pass/' 

In the third chapter, he says of that faultless 
Philadelphia church, ''Because thou didst keep 
the word of my patience, I also will keep thee 
from the hour of trial, that hour which is to 
come upon the whole world, to try them that 
dwell upon the earth. I come quickly ; hold fast 
that which thou hast, that no one take thy crown/' 

Unlike Daniel's book, this one was to remain 
unsealed, for the angel said: "Seal not up the 
words of the prophecy of this book ; for the time 
is at hand." (Rev. 22 : 10.) 

The Time for the Nezv Kingdom Had Come. 

The time for the consummation of all these 
things had come. 

The coming of the Lord and the day of judg- 
ment were near at hand. 

The Judge was standing before the doors ; 
there was no tim^ for change of character nor 
for foolish virgins to purchase oil. 

''He that is unrighteous, let him do unrighte- 
ousness still ; and he that is filthy, let him be 
made filthy still ; and he that is righteous, let 
him do righteousness still; and he that is holy, 

46 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

let him be made holy still. Behold I come quickly ; 
and my reward is with me, to render to each man 
according as his work is." (Rev. 22\ 11-12.) 

In the twelfth chapter of Daniel we see that 
"when they have made an end of breaking in 
pieces the power of the holy people, all these 
things shall be finished.'' About six centuries 
later their power was broken, their kingdom 
taken from them and the scepter had departed. 
This great event was the end of time or the time 
covenant. It was also the finishing of the 
"mystery of God, according to the good tidings 
which He declared to His servants, the prophets." 
(Rev. 10:7.) 

It was the opening of the last "seal, and the 
sounding of the last trumpet;" it was the exe- 
cuting of "His word upon the earth, finishing it 
and cutting it short." (Rom. 9:28) ; it was the 
end of the days of vengeance as foretold by 
Christ Himself; (Luke 21:22), and was the 
fulfillment of the long foretold catastrophe. In 
short, it wias the "end of all things," as declared 
by the apostle Peter and the "making of all things 
new," as declared by John the Revelator. 

The "last days" to which Joel, Paul and Peter 
referred were the last days of a dying world. 

47 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

(See Acts 2 : 16, 17, and II Tim. 3 : 1,2, 3, and 
II Peter 3:3.) 

Not many years intervened between the great 
outpouring of the spirit and the great declension 
that followed. Finally ''the last days" with the 
spiritual night came to an end, and we are now 
living in God's eternal day. ''The night is far 
spent," said Paul, "and the day is at hand." 
(Rom. 13: 12.) 



48 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY. 

The Gospels Indicate a Single Event, 

It is believed by many that the 24th and 25th 
chapters of Matthew predict two great events, one 
of which has already been fulfilled, the other to 
take place at some future time, known only to the 
Father; also, that the 24th chapter refers to the 
overthrow of the Jewish nation, and the 25th to 
the transactions of a final judgment. 

That it is one discourse divided into two parts 
is evident; but can they actually be divided? 
What terms are used in the one that are not used 
with all their force in the other? In the 24th 
chapter, Jesus says : ''Watch therefore, for ye 
know not on what day your Lord cometh" ; in the 
25th chapter, "Watch therefore, for ye know not 
the day nor the hour." In the 24th chapter, 
''They shall see the Son of Man coming on the 
clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 
And He shall send forth His angels with a great 
sound of a trumpet" ; in the 25th chapter, "When 
the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all 

49 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

the angels with Him, then shall He sit on the 
throne of His glory." 

The coming of Christ with His angels, as pre- 
dicted in the i6th chapter of Matthew, is in per- 
fect harmony with that of the 24th and 25th chap- 
ters of Matthew, and also of the 13th chapter of 
Mark. In the i6th chapter of Matthew He says : 
'The Son of Man shall come in the glory of His 
Father with His angels ; and then shall He render 
unto every man according to his deeds." 

It is very clear to me that the expressions, 
''Separating the sheep from the goats" (Matt. 
25), ''Cut him asunder, and appoint his portion 
with the hypocrites" (Matt. 24) ; "Render unto 
every man according to his deeds" (Matt. 16), and 
"Behold, I come quickly ; and My reward is with 
Me to render to each man according as his work 
is" (Rev. 22), refer to the same great and notable 
event, to-wit: His second coming; the day of 
judgment; and the end of the world. 

If Jesus predicted two great events, widely sep- 
arated by time, the first one — the fall of Jerusa- 
lem — is certainly the greater, for in Matt. 24 :20, 
21 He says : "Pray ye that your flight be not in the 
winter, neither on a Sabbath : for then shall be 
great tribulation, such as hath not been from the 
beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever 

50 



CHRIST^S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 



shall be/' In the 34th verse of the same chapter, 
He says : ''Verily I say unto you, this generation 
shall not pass away, till all these things be accom- 
plished." 

Because it seemed incredible for the predictions 
which Jesus made to have had a fulfillment at the 
fall of Jerusalem, men have for generations 
thought that Jesus predicted two great events. 

We cannot but believe that if Jesus had pre- 
dicted two great events to His disciples on the 
Mount of Olives, He would have at least spoken 
one word whereby we might know that He had 
reference to two events. 

If, in foretelling two great events like the first 
and second advent of Christ. Moses and the 
prophets kept them distinctly separate, have we 
not good reason for believing that if Jesus and 
His disciples had in mind two great events, they 
also would have made a distinction. 

But as it is, if there be two, they are spoken of 
together, and so entangled that it is impossible 
to separate them. 

Nearly nineteen centuries have fled since Jesus 
and His disciples sat on the Mount of Olives and 
He described to them the wonderful things that 
have been the burden of sermon and song for 
many generations. 

51 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

During all this time, so far as our knowledge 
goes, there has been no evidence which proves 
that Jesus described two great events, one of 
which was to take place in the time of the genera- 
tion then living, the other at some far distant date 
known only to the Father. Still 

'^The weary centuries watch in vain 
The clouds of heaven for Him !" 

The Confusion of Other Beliefs. 

Nevertheless, there are many in every genera- 
tion who look to the future for the coming of 
Christ when, as they believe, all terrestrial and 
heavenly things (excepting the saints) will be 
consumed by elemental fire and God will replace 
them with new heavens and a new earth wherein 
dwelleth righteousness. This is, perhaps, the 
prevailing belief. 

Others believe the time is almost ripe for His 
coming when all the billions of the dead will come 
forth from the ''one mighty sepulchre'' and live 
again on the earth under the reign of Christ 
throughout the millennial age. Then will come 
the separation of the sheep from the goats, pro- 
vided there be any goats after that long peace- 
ful probationary period. 

52 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Others believe the promise of His coming is 
fulfilled in the gift of the Holy Spirit; others 
still, that Jesus made predictions that have not 
been and cannot now be fulfilled. 

It is, therefore, plainly evident that many be- 
lievers in Christ are yet in a maze concerning 
His second coming. They do not consider the 
fact that Jesus and His disciples might have had 
reference to a moral transformation such as is cer- 
tainly meant in Isaiah 65: 17, 18; 66:22, and 
Rev. 21. 

A More Hopeful View. 

The passing away of the existing order of 
things, in which sin is predominant, would be far 
more beneficial to the human race than the de- 
struction and reconstruction of the earth which 
God was ages untold in creating and forming to 
be inhabited by man. We are not capable of see- 
ing what would be gained either by burning it 
over or burning it up. The Bible does not treat 
so much of the heavens and earth as it does of 
covenants and of men. We are assured that the 
earth on which we live is as well adapted to the 
natural man and the propagation of the human 
race as infinite wisdom can make it. 

''He hath established it. He created it not in 
53 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

vain, He formed to be inhabited/' (Isaiah 

45 : i8-) 

As the natural must precede the spiritual man, 
the earth will doubtless remain as long as it 
enhances the glory of God and the good of men. 

It is true that Jesus said : ''Heaven and earth 
shall pass away," but reason as well as the Bible, 
compels us to believe that He did not have refer- 
ence to the heaven wherein is established the 
throne of God and our Father's house of many 
mansions. ''The eternal tabernacles,'' "the third 
heaven," "the paradise of God" (wherein Paul 
was caught up and heard unspeakable words), 
"the city which hath the foundations whose build- 
er and maker is God," is as eternal and imperish- 
able as is God Himself. If Jesus did not have 
reference to the "third heaven — the heaven of 
heavens," it is also possible that He did not have 
reference to the earth on which tower the "ever- 
lasting hills." 

David, in speaking of the greatness of Jehovah, 
says : "Who laid the foundations of the earth 
that it should not be moved forever," and Solo- 
mon says : "One generation goeth, and another 
generation cometh ; but the earth abideth for- 
ever." 

These Scriptures at least teach that the earth 
54 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

will long remain ; and considering the long dura- 
tion of the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars, 
the most reasonable interpretation of the words 
''heaven and earth shall pass away'' is that He 
spake these words for the express purpose of im- 
pressing upon the minds of His disciples and on 
all after generations the durability of His words, 
and that they were even more stable than the 
earth, the sun, and the moon and stars. 

In the first chapter of Hebrews, Paul quotes 
from the 102nd Psalm, saying : 'Thou, Lord, in 
the beginning, didst lay the foundation of the 
earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy 
hands : They shall perish ; but Thou continuest ; 
And they all shall wax old as doth a garment ; and 
as a mantle shaft Thou roll them up, and they shall 
be changed: But Thou art the same, and Thy 
years shall not fail/' 

There is no fire mentioned in connection 
with the passing away of these things. Even as 
an old worn-out garment that has served the pur- 
pose for which it was made, passes away, so with 
the earth and the heavens. As we understand it, 
neither David nor Paul, nor Jesus, gave us any 
ground for believing that they will ever be re- 
placed with a new heaven and a new earth. 

If it could only be understood that the heaven 
55 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

and earth that were destined to pass away and be 
superseded by a new heaven and a new earth 
wherein dwelleth righteousness, was the old im- 
perfect and temporary covenant, with its sacri- 
fices that could not take away sins, and the unbe- 
lievers of a crooked and perverse nation who not 
only rejected the words of Jesus and His apostles, 
but persecuted those who believed on Him ; and 
that these were destined to give place to the new, 
perfect and eternal covenant with a sacrifice that 
puts away sin, and a personal and witnessing 
spirit ; and that there would be ''an elect race, a 
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's 
own possession,'' then the harmony and beauty of 
the Scriptures concerning these things will begin 
to appear, and the new heaven and the new earth, 
wherein dwelleth righteousness, will not seem so 
vague and far away. 

The New Covenant Maketh a Neiv Heaven and a 
New Earth. 

Paul said : ''If there had been a law given 
which could make alive, verily righteousness 
would have been of the law." (Gal. 3 131. ) Again 
he says, "If that first covenant had been faultless, 
then would no place have been sought for a sec- 
ond." (Heb. 8:7.) "In those sacrifices there is 

56 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

a remembrance made of sins year by year. For 
it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats 
should take away sins/' (Heb. 10:3, 4.) 'Tor 
I know my transgressions," said David, ''and my 
sin is ever before me." (Psalms 51 13. ) 

But of the new covenant it is said: 
"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I 
will make a new covenant ... I will put My 
laws into their mind, and on their heart also will 
I write them ; and I will be to them a God, and 
they shall be to me a people . . . for I will be 
merciful to their iniquities, and their sins will I 
remember no more.'' (Heb. 8:8; 10:12.) 

This is certainly heaven for the sin-sick, re- 
pentant, disburdened, and spirit-filled soul, and is 
the second heaven for the Jew who turned from 
the old to the new covenant. "For if that which 
passeth away was with glory, much more that 
which remaineth is in glory." II Cor. 3 : 11.) 

Four thousand years of the world's age passed 
into history before the new and living way was 
dedicated for man's redemption, and that it 
should come to an end in half the time of prepa- 
ration is opposed both to reason and revelation. 
This new and living way was not dedicated for 
a few score generations only. Paul could see no 

57 



Christy's second coming fulfilled 



end to the procession of succeeding generations 
as he looked down the vista of coming ages. 

For he says : ''Unto Him be the glory in the 
church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations 
forever and ever/' (Eph. 3:21.) 

And Isaiah says : ''Of the increase of his gov- 
ernment and of peace there shall be no end/' 
(Isa. 9:7.) ''He shall see the travail of his soul 
and shall be satisfied/' 

Although Sin May Increase for a Time, 
God's Word Shall Triumph. 

The Scriptures evidently teach that the world 
would grow more and more sinful ; that it would 
grow more and more indifferent to the gospel; 
that nation would rise against nation and king- 
dom against kingdom and false Christs and 
prophets would arise. "In the last days/' said 
Paul, "grievious times shall come. For men shall 
be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, 
haughty, railers, disobedient to parents, unthank- 
ful, unholy, without natural affection, implaca- 
ble." (II Tim. 3.) "In the last days," said Peter, 
"mockers shall come with mockery, walking after 
their own lusts/' (II Peter 3 :3.) Christ said : "Be- 
cause iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of many 

58 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

shall wax cold/' That day shall not come, except 
there come a falling away first. (II Thes. 2:3.) 

Shall we look to the future or the past for the 
fulfillment of these things ? If we look to the fu- 
ture, it makes a gloomy prospect for the triumph 
of the gospel. 

Many centuries ago, God said of his word : '^It 
shall not return unto me void, but it shall accom- 
plish that which I please, and it shall prosper in 
the thing whereto I sent it.'' (Isa. 55.) 

But with the increasing wickedness of the 
world, there would be the triumph of evil instead 
of the triumph of the gospel and the latter portion 
of earth's history an apostacy. 

But if we look back through the centuries of 
the Christian era to the generation in which Jesus 
lived, died, rose from the dead and ascended from 
the brow of Olivet to the right hand of God, 
and in that generation see his return and the con- 
summation of all that he predicted, and that the 
first things are passed away and all things made 
new, then the outlook changes from gloom to 
gladness, from defeat to victory, and instead of 
the multiplying of iniquity, there would be the 
multiplying of righteousness ; and instead of wars 
and strife between nations, we would see Micah's 

59 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

picture of Universal Peace, and hear that angelic 
anthem that rolled among the clouds and resound- 
ed over that manger cradle and over those Judean 
hillsides fifty-eight generations ago, saying: 

''Glory to God in the highest, 
And on earth peace among men 
In v^hom he is well pleased." 

Christianity is in the world for conquest; it 
thrills with that hope, for its captain is a con- 
quering Christ and under its benign and peace- 
ful influence, ''the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, 
and the leapord shall lie down with the kid ; and 
the calf and the young lion and the fatling to- 
gether; and a little child shall lead them . . . 
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy 
mountain ; for the earth shall be full of the knowl- 
edge of Jehovah as the waters cover the sea." 
(Isa. II :6, 9.) 

The Children of God To Become a World Power. 

Under the last Adam, the spiritual head and 
founder of a new race of ''children of God/' the 
world is not only preserved and kept from degen- 
erating, but is being gradually filled with the 
knowledge of Jehovah. And slowly, slowly, yet 

60 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

surely, it grows better and ''grace" abounds more 
and more, and ''sin" less and less. All things are 
converging toward the triumphal hour when 
Christ's influence shall be universal and all na- 
tions shall walk in the light of the Lord. "Then 
the wilderness and the dry land shall be glad ; and 
the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." 
(Isa. 35:1.) 

Victor Hugo gives utterance to the triumph of 
the Christian hope in these beautiful lines : 

"Be like the bird, that on a bough too frail 
To bear him, gaily sings : — 
He carols, though the slender branches fail ; 
He knows that he has wings." 

"It is by the influence of Christianity," said 
Benjamin Harrison, "that we shall approach uni- 
versal peace and adopt arbitration methods of set- 
tling disputes." 

"When I look down," said Mr. Beecher, "into 
the future, my hope and my confidence is that re- 
ligion is leading men on. My trust and my un- 
shaken hope for the future is that God reigns and 
the whole earth shall see His salvation." 

"Each generation," said Mr., Bascom, "leaves 
a better world than that into which it was born." 

61 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Not a New Gospel nor a New Faith, hut a 
Clearer Vision. 

Professor Sweet in Modern Sermons by World 
Scholars'^ says : 

"The Spirit of Christ will never proclaim any 
other gospel than that which Christ proclaimed 
on the first day of His preaching in Galilee ; will 
never teach any other faith than that which was 
once for all delivered to the saints. 

''But as the world grows older the Spirit of 
Christ may be expected to tell men more and 
more plainly of the Father. There has been and 
there will be fresh interpretations of the original 
message, new lights thrown on the teaching of 
Scripture and on the doctrine of the Church. 

''The Light of the world is ever bringing on 
the dawn of the perfect day ; the unchangeable 
truth grows clearer in the growing light of knowl- 
edge and experience. There has been in the best 
theological teaching of the last fifty years, within 
our memory, a marvelous extension of Christian 
thought, an opening up of new or forgotten ave- 
nues of truth, a lifting of clouds which had long 
obscured the field of vision, a casting away of 

* Published by Funk & Wagnalls Co,, N. Y, 
62 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

unsound opinions, and mere presumptions, which 
marks a real advance in spiritual knowledge. 

''It is impossible to foresee the surprises which 
even the near future may have in store for not a 
few of us. Within the lifetime of the younger 
men new lights may break upon the Church, 
bringing new fulfillments of Christ's words. 
Such a hope may well inspire life with a buoyancy 
which will stimulate the next generation to new 
endeavors. 

"In view of the promise of progressive teaching 
which the Church has received from Christ, 
all lines of legitimate study may be 
pursued with confidence. 'I will tell you plainly' 
is a word which will fulfill itself ever more and 
more to those who are patient workers in every 
part of the great field of knowledge." 

Rev. Andrew Gillies in the Homiletic Review"^ 
says : ''This is the greatest of the Christian cen- 
turies. It is the greatest in man's insight into 
truth. We know more about God and Christ and 
sin and immortality, about ourselves and the uni- 
verse, than ever has been known before. This 
century is greatest, too, in the application of 
truth to the life of the race. After all the real 



* Published by Funk & Wagnalls Co., N. T. 

63 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

glory of our time is not that we are teaching 
more clearly than ever the Fatherhood of God 
and the brotherhood of man, it is that we are in- 
corporating them more fully into our social rela- 
tions. And so this century is the greatest in spir- 
itual power and promise. With all the faults, 
this period is better religiously than was any past 
period with all its virtues. I do not mean that all 
men are self-confessed subjects of Jesus Christ 
or that all who confess Him as Master are all that 
they ought to be. I mean that the Gospel of 
Jesus Christ has been interpreted more clearly, 
spread more widely, and embodied more com- 
pletely in the life of the race than ever before 
since He who proclaimed it walked the ways of 
the earth. 

*'Step by step since time began. 
We see the steady gain of man." 



64 



CHAPTER V. 

CHRIST CAME IX THE GEXERATIOX THEN LIVIXG. 

The Assurance of His Coming in That 
Generation. 

If it be said that it is impossible for the predic- 
tions Jesus made to His disciples on the ]\Iount 
of Olives to have had a fulfillment in that genera- 
tion because the Lord Jesus did not appear in the 
clouds of heaven with His holy angels, let the 
Son himself answer : 'The Son of Man shall 
come in the glory of His Father with His angels ; 
and then shall He render unto every man accord- 
ing to His deeds/' Then to assure them that His 
return would not be long delayed, He said : ''Ver- 
ily I say unto you, there are some of them that 
stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, 
till they see the Son of ]\Ian coming in His king- 
dom." ' (Matt. 16:27, 28.) 

These words are in perfect harmony wuth those 
memorable words in the 24th chapter of 2^Iat- 
thew : ''Verily I say unto you. This generation 
shall not pass away,, till all these things be accom- 
plished." 

65 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

They are also in perfect harmony with His 
words to the high priest in the 26th chapter of 
Matthew : ''Henceforth, ye shall see the Son of 
Man .... coming on the clouds of heaven.'' 

With these words, and many others of like im- 
port, His disciples had good grounds for believ- 
ing that the generation then living would see His 
return and as they saw ''the day drawing nigh," 
they were enabled to comfort one another in the 
fiery trials which came upon them and to exhort 
one another to be patient, saying: "Be patient, 
therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord." 
(James 5:7.) ''Be ye also patient, establish your 
hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." 
(James 5:8.) "For ye have need of patience, 
that having done the will of God, ye may receive 
the promise. For yet a very little while He that 
Cometh shall come and shall not tarry." (Heb. 
10:36,37-) 

The Need of His Coming at That Time, 

There was urgent need of the return of the 
Lord in the generation then living, for the cry of 
the infant church went up night and day for the 
deliverance from their cruel persecutors. The 
good shepherd knew the "little flock" would be 
as "lambs among wolves," for He said, "the hour 

66 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Cometh, that whosoever killeth you shall think 
that he offereth service unto God. And these 
things will they do, because they have not known 
the Father, nor me/' (John 16:2-3.) 'Then 
shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and 
shall kill you ; and ye shall be hated of all nations 
for my name's sake. And then shall many stumble, 
and shall deliver up one another, and shall hate 
one another. And many false prophets shall 
arise, and shall lead many astray. And because 
iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of the many 
shall wax cold." (Matt. 24:9, 10, 11, 12.) 

As the last state of the man with a swept and 
garnished house became worse than the first, 
''even so with that wicked generation.'' (Matt. 
12-45.) Hence the sad question, "When the Son 
of Man Cometh, shall He find the faith on the 
earth?" (Luke 18:8.) 

Assurance that the Time Was at Hand. 

The apostles assure us that at the time of writ- 
ing the epistles and the book of Revelation the 
things which should precede His coming were 
largely fulfilled, for John says : "Even now there 
have arisen many antichrists ; whereby we know 
that it is the last hour," and Paul, in his letter to 
the Collossians, declared that the Gospel had been 

67 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

preached "in all creation under heaven." The low 
state of most of the congregations in western 
Asia Minor — the seven churches, which perhaps 
represented the whole of Christendom — indicate 
that ''the falling away" had already come to pass. 

Seeing the fulfillment of these things, with in- 
iquity and persecution increasing, they could con- 
fidently say, "We know that it is the last hour," 
"the Lord is at hand," "the time is at hand," etc., 
etc. 

Then if, as we understand it, there is but one 
coming with His angels predicted, have we not, 
with such an overwhelming mass of evidence 
from the highest authority and from the purest 
source, strong grounds for believing that not only 
His second coming, but also that all which He 
predicted concerning this great event were ful- 
filled in the generation then living? 

How these things were fulfilled or accom- 
plished, we leave to Him who numbered the 
stars. 

Nevertheless, not only the preponderance of 
evidence, but all the Scriptural evidence, is on the 
side of their fulfillment in the generation then 
living. It is all or none, for Jesus said : "Every 
kingdom divided against itself is brought to des- 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

elation; and every city or house divided against 
itself shall not stand." (Matt. 12 : 25.) 

After Jesus had told His disciples of the things 
which must precede His coming, and of His com- 
ing on the clouds of heaven with power and great 
glory, and sending forth His angels with a great 
sound of a trumpet. He then tells them how they 
may be as sure of His return as of the return of 
summer, saying : "When the branches of the fig 
tree become tender and putteth forth its leaves, 
ye know that the summer is nigh ; even so ye 
also, when ye shall see all these things, know ye 
that He is nigh, even at the doors." (Matt. 24.) 
Then the great Teacher and Prophet spake those 
profound and incontrovertible words, and we be- 
lieve them to be the one path out of the maze — 
"Verily, I say unto you. This generation shall not 
pass away till all these things be accomplished." 
(Matt. 24:34.) 

These words He then fortified with others al- 
most if not equally pregnant, "If I will," said 
Jesus, "that he tarry till I come, what is that to 
thee?" (John 21 :22,) 

"Verily, I say unto you. Ye shall not have gone 
through the cities of Israel, till the Son of Man 
be come." (Matt. 10:23.) 

69 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

''Verily I say unto you, there are some of them 
that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of 
death, till they see the Son of Man coming in his 
kingdom." (Matt. 16:28.) Surely these words 
of the Great Teacher and Prophet are worthy of 
all acceptation. 

In his book ''On Prophecy" Fairbairn says of 
these words in our Lord's discourses, taking Matt. 
16:28 for example. "Which by no fair and nat- 
ural exposition can be referred primarily to events 
and times altogether subsequent to the Apostolic 
Age ; it must indicate what some of those then 
present lived to witness." 

Professor Weiss in his book. The Religion of 
the New Testament,'^ says : 

"It is perfectly useless by exegetical and crit- 
ical means to get rid of the fact that Jesus had 
promised His return to the generation of His day 
(Mark 9:1; 14:62; Matt. 24:34). All His dis- 
courses with references to His return proceed 
from the standpoint that His hearers as a class 
would yet live to see His return (John 14 : 3 ; 21 : 
22). . . All apostolic preaching expected it 
in the near future (James 5:8, 9; I Peter 4:5; 
Heb. 10:25, 37; Rev. 1:3; 3:11; 22:10, 20). 



* Published by Funk & Wagnalls Co., N. Y. 
70 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Paul hopes with the majority of the beHevers to 
see the return (I Thess. 4: 15, i6; I Cor. 15 : 52). 
And he adheres to the near approach of this re- 
turn even when thought of His martyrdom came 
nearer and stronger (Phil. 2: 16, 17; 4: 5). John 
knows that the last hour is already at hand and 
expects with his readers to live to see the return 
(I John 2:18, 28). 

"As certain as it accordingly is that the Divine 
Providence, according to which Jesus was com- 
pelled to expect His speedy return, had its spe- 
cial redemptive purposes, so certainly, too, is it 
wrong to speak of a mistake on the part of Jesus 
or even of a self-deception in reference to the 
success of His work." 

Should it be proved that Christ was mistaken 
even in one thing, then the whole plan of redemp- 
tion would be shaken and there would be nothing 
secure on which to build our faith and hope, and 
furthermore the old "ship of Zion'^ would be left 
upon a wide tempestuous sea without anchor, 
chart or compass. But, thank God, it can never 
be proved that He spake even one word amiss. 
He says of His words : "I spake not from my- 
self ; but the Father that sent me He hath given 
me a commandment, what I should say, and what 
I should speak." (John 12:49.) 

71 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Apart from the day and hour, which he said 
he did not know, Christ has in this declaration 
in Matt. 16:28 and in others of similar kind made 
the time of his return as plain as it was possible 
for words to make it. They should be sufficient 
evidence. They were sufficient for the apostles 
who heard him speak them, for, when they saw 
the things coming to pass, which he had told them 
would precede his return, they sent letters to 
those who were scattered abroad because of per- 
secutions, saying: "Establish your hearts for 
the coming of the Lord is at hand." (James 5 :8.) 

"Behold the judge standeth before the doors.'' 
(James 5:9.) 

"Who shall give account to him that is ready 
to judge the living and the dead.'' (I Peter 4:5.) 

"The end of all things is at hand." (I Peter 

4:7-) 

"EA^en now there have arisen many Antichrists 
whereby we know that it is the last hour." (I 
John 2:18.) 

And Paul, whose gospel came to him "through 
the revelation of Jesus Christ," sent letters to the 
Corinthians, Philippians and Thessalonians say- 
ing : "The time is shortened." "The Lord is at 
hand." "I pray God your whole spirit and soul 
and body be preserved blameless unto the coming 

72 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

of our Lord Jesus Christ." ''Faithful is he that 
calleth you who also will do it/' (I. Thess. 5 123, 
24, A. V.) 

I confidently believe that which Paul prayed 
for came to pass, for it is in perfect harmony with 
these words of Jesus: ''Verily I say unto you, 
there are some of them that stand here who shall 
in no wise taste of death till they see the Son of 
Man coming in his kingdom. (Matt. 16:28.) 

It is plainly evident that Paul entertained no 
doubt concerning the fulfillment of that for which 
he prayed, for he adds, "Faithful is he that calleth 
you who will also do it.'' 

With Jesus, Paul, Peter, James and John all 
proclaiming in effect a return so near at hand 
that some who were then living would be living 
when their Lord returned, how can me refuse to 
believe it? Surely nothing is more plainly stated in 
the scriptures, and the evidence is certainly over- 
whelming, for there is not one dissenting voice. 
Therefore wie should not underestimate it, nor 
should we, like Nicodemus, ask, "How can these 
things be," but rather what has Jesus and his 
holy Apostles said, for the decision of this su- 
preme court is final. 

73 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

The Blood of the Righteous as Additional 
Evidence, 

After Christ had strongly denounced the 
Scribes and Pharisees, he said, ''Behold I send 
unto you prophets and wise men and scribes ; and 
some of them shall ye kill and crucify ; and some 
of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and 
persecute them from city to city ; That upon you 
may come all the righteous blood shed upon the 
earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the 
blood of Zacharias Son of Barachias, whom ye 
slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I 
say unto you, All these things shall come upon 
this generation/' (Matt. 2^, 134, 35, 36.) 

Pilate said: 'T am innocent of the blood of 
this righteous man, see ye to it." And all the 
people answered and said : "His blood be on us 
and on our children." (Matt. 27:24, 25.) 

Dreadful, dreadful imprecation! It certainly 
came, for in less than two score of years, there 
came upon that generation not only the blood of 
Jesus, but all the righteous blood from Abel to 
Zachariah. 

'Tor these," said Jesus, "are days of vengeance, 
that all things which are written may be ful- 
filled." (Luke 21:22.) 

74 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

So terrible was this vengeance that he declared 
that ''except those days had been shortened, no 
flesh would have been saved/' (Matt. 24:22.) 

Little wonder then that, with all the righteous 
blood and with all that was written against them 
coming upon them, they said to the mountains 
and the rocks, 'Tall on us and hide us from the 
face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from 
the wrath of the lamb," etc. (Rev. 6:16.) 

"Then,'' said Jesus, "shall be great tribulation, 
such as hath not been from the beginning of the 
world until now, no nor ever shall be" (Matt. 
24:21.) 

The Certainty of His Coming and the Ful- 
fillment of the Predictions, 

It seems to me that, with such impressive words 
from the lips of the Son of man, and with his 
spirit-filled apostles in persecutions, and in 
prisons, declaring the same great truth, there 
should be no question concerning the time of his 
coming, nor of the accomplishment of all that he 
had predicted. Cetainly the apostles had every 
reason to believe that "the day of the Lord" was 
drawing nigh, for Jesus had said to them : "When 
ye see all these things, know ye that he is nigh, 

75 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

even at the doors." Moreover, had He not as- 
sured them again and again that the generation 
then living wiould see his return ? We confident- 
ly believe they looked not in vain, for prophecies 
and promises awaited fulfillment, which made his 
return in the existing generation imperative. His 
promise is proof, and it is comforting to be as- 
sured by Him who ''created the heavens and 
stretched them forth ; that spread abroad the earth 
and that which cometh out of it'' that they have 
passed out of their flood and fire; of which we 
are assured by the bow in the cloud and by the 
more precious bow of promises in His word, for 
''there shall be no curse any more" and "as the 
new heavens and the new earth which I will make, 
shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall 
your seed and your name remain." Jesus says: 
"The meek shall inherit the earth." And Isaiah, 
"Thy people also shall be all righteous ; they shall 
inherit the land forever ; the branch of my plant- 
ing, the work of my hands, that I may be glori- 
fied. The little one shall become a thousand, and 
the small one a strong nation: I, Jehovah, will 
hasten it in its time." (Isa. 60:21, 22.) 

If it should be said that the Fourth Gospel was 
written after the Holy City had been destroyed 

76 



CHRIST'S SECOXD COMING FULFILLED 

(there is, however, internal evidence of its hav- 
ing been written before that time) and should it 
be said that, if these prophesies had been fulfilled 
in the destruction of Jerusalem, there would at 
least have been some allusion thereto, I should 
say, that it has not pleased God to give us an 
after revelation of this great event further than 
that foretold by the prophets and by Jesus him- 
self, and that which he revealed unto John on 
the Isle of Patmos. 

There is, doubtless, much more revealed in the 
last book of the Xew Testament than it has yet 
been given credit for. 

When one comes to believe that such words as 
''Must shortly come to pass." (Rev. i :i.) *'*The 
time is at hand.'' (Rev. i :3.) ''Behold I come 
quickly.'' (Rev. 3:11.) "Yea, I come quickly." 
(Rev. 22 :20.) Have reference to the time of the 
generation then living, much that is written in this 
wonderful book that hitherto was obscure will 
then be made plain. That they apply to the gen- 
eration then living is plainly evident, for they 
are in perfect accord with words of like import 
both in the Synoptic gospels and in the Epistles. 
The same stream of water that runs through the 
sunny fields, runs through the shadowy forest. 

77 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Even so this stream of truth, which runs through 
the sunny synoptics and epistles, also runs through 
this shadowy book. 

The Meaning of the Symbol, 

It seems to symbolize the closing scenes of a 
world that had had its morning, noon and evening. 
It not only symbolizes the closing scenes of the 
old, but it also represents the glorious presence of 
the new. After the famine, the sword, and fire 
had accomplished their work, and the fire of His 
wrath had passed away, the Revelator seemed to 
turn with joy to the new and eternal things, when 
he said : 

''I saw a new heaven and a new earth ; for the 
first heaven and the first earth are passed away, 
and the sea is no more. And I saw the Holy City, 
New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from 
God, made ready as a bride adorned for her hus- 
band. And I heard a great voice out of the throne 
saying. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with 
men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall 
be His peoples, and God himself shall be with 
them, and be their God ; and He shall wipe away 
every tear from their eyes ; and death shall be no 
more ; neither shall there be mourning, nor cry- 
ing, nor pain any more ; the first things are passed 

78 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

away. And He that sitteth on the throne said, 
'Behold I make all things new/ And He saith, 
'Write: for these words are faithful and true.' 
And He said unto me, 'They are come to pass'." 
By these last few words we see that the Revela- 
tor saw in his vision the accomplishment of all 
these things. 

The Church of the Lord a Living Evidence, 

'The church of the Lord which He purchased 
with His own blood," is a living evidence of the 
fulfillment of these things, for instead of a "falling 
away", "the love of many waxing cold", "and 
knowledge of the truth waning" is it not increas- 
ing in numbers and growing in divine grace, and 
in the knowledge of the truth, just as we should 
expect from the mighty forces that make for 
righteousness which God hath ordained for the 
accomplishment of His eternal purpose which He 
purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord? Are not 
the years and centuries of Christian history grow- 
ing better? Are not His plans sure of realiza- 
tion? Is not His church, of which He declared 
the "gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" 
certain of victory ? 

79 



CHRISTS SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

"Crowns and thrones may perish ; 
Kingdoms rise and wane; 
But the church of Jesus 
Constant will remain!'' 



^0 



CHAPTER VI. 

WONDERFUL CHRIST. 

The New Covenant and the New Life, 

God is with His people as He was not under 
the old covenant. "Christ in you, the hope of 
glory" was unknown to the men of old. Life and 
immortality had not yet been brought to light. 
The way into the Holy Place had not yet been 
made manifest. They could not enter into the 
life of the spirit, for the law could not make alive, 
nor the offered gifts and sacrifices as touching the 
conscience, make the worshipper perfect. 

Although the old was only a shadow of the 
good things to come, yet ''Moses writeth that the 
man that doeth the righteousness which is of the 
law shall live thereby." (Rom. 10:5.) 

God did not require a perfect conscience under 
an imperfect covenant. Since under the new cov- 
enant there is much more given, there is also 
much more required, which may be readily seen 
in the Saviour's sermon on the Mount; also in 
his words to Nicodemus, and throughout the New 
Testament writings. 

81 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

Therefore, all who have complied with the re- 
quirements of the new, are delivered out of the 
power of darkness, and if, to them, truth is the 
glad sunlight of the soul, they are already trans- 
lated into the kingdom of the Son of His Love. 
In this kingdom there is no (soul) death, no 
judgment, for, for them, these things have passed 
away, and they are of that radiant number of 
whom Jesus spake when He said : '^Verily, verily 
I say unto you. He that heareth My word, and 
believeth Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and 
Cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of 
death into life." (John 5 : 24.) ''They are walk- 
ing in that elevation of character that is forever 
in the sunshine of God," and in this sacred sun- 
shine earth's bitter things grow sweet and the joy 
and the pain are made one. Hear what Christ 
himself says: "He that followeth Me shall not 
walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of 
life." They are now spiritual citizens of the Holy 
City, New Jerusalem, which John saw coming 
down out of heaven from God — the Spiritual City 
— the City of the Great King. 

With their spiritual vision they see the ''King in 
His beauty," not in His marred form and visage. 
They feel His power and preciousness. "They 
go from strength to strength" and they run with- 

82 



CHRIST^S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

out weariness and they walk without fainting. 
They are eating of the hidden manna and drinking 
anew the fruit of the vine with Jesus in His 
Father's kingdom (of which the former was but 
the emblem) and ''the true vine/' life is flowing 
into their souls ; and they are glorifying the Father 
in bearing much fruit. 'The everlasting love/' 
"the peace that passeth all understanding/' "the 
unsearchable riches/' "the unspeakable gift/' yea, 
"all things that pertain unto life and godliness" 
are theirs forevermore. They are not isolated 
from those that need their sympathy and service, 
and it may never be that way. The joy of service 
may forever be a part of the Christian heritage, 
for as Lowell says : "For sure in heaven's wide 
chambers, there is room for love and pity and for 
helpful deeds." "Are they not all," says Paul, 
"ministering spirits, sent forth to do service for 
the sake of them that shall inherit salvation?" 
(Heb. 1:14.) 

May we not, then, say with Whittier that it 
is a great and precious truth of the Gospel 

"That the dear Christ dwells not afar. 
The King of some remoter star, 
But here, amidst the poor and blind. 
The bowed and suffering of our kind, 
83 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

In works we do, in prayers we pray, 
Life of our life, He lives today." 

Through Christ Man Reaches God. 

We do not think of the ''dear Christ" enough 
as man, nor enough as God. As man, he ate and 
drank ; as God, He fed the multitudes. As man. 
He slept on a pillow in a ship, but as God He 
stilled the wind and the sea. As man He wept 
with those that wept, while as God He raised 
Lazarus from the dead. As man He suffered 
and died, but as God He raised Himself from the 
dead. Wonderful Christ ! His love is universal ; 
His truth is everlasting, and His kingdom shall 
have no end ! "O Star of the Morning, our hope 
is in Thee !" 

In the language of Wortman : ''How great the 
folly of those who seek not the knowledge of 
Him and of His ways ; they close their eyes to the 
grandest visions, their ears to the noblest songs ; 
their minds to the highest truths ; their hearts to 
the purest inspirations." 

The Work of Christianity, 

FinalUy, if the foregoing conclusions concern- 
ing the second coming of Christ be correct, they 

84 



CHRIST S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

in nowise lessen our responsibility either to God 
or man, but rather increase it ; nor because of the 
Gospel having been preached in all the world in 
that generation, is it a reason for abating mis- 
sionary zeal. The work of Christianity is to seek 
and save the lost, and to make better men and 
women, by growing Christward according to His 
own pattern. Nor because the ''day of the Lord'', 
that great ''and notable day" is more than eighteen 
centuries in the past, can the sinner hope to es- 
cape punishment from sin,, "for sin and punish- 
ment are by a great law of God bound together," 
and there is no escape from the consequences of 
misconduct. "For he that doeth wrong shall re- 
ceive for the wrong that he hath done and there is 
no respect of persons." (Col. 3 125.) 

"To Thee, O love Ineffable ! 
The saving name is given ; 
To turn aside from Thee is hell! 
To walk with Thee is Heaven!" 

— Whittier. 

The New Heaven and the New Earth, 

The first and last apostles shall furnish the clos- 
ing of the first part of the book, by a description 
of the new heaven and the new earth wherein 

85 



CHRIST^S SECOND COMING FULFILLED 

dwelleth righteousness. '*But ye are come unto 
Mount Zion, and unto the city of the Hving God, 
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts 
of angels, to. the general assembly and church of 
the first born who are enrolled in heaven, and to 
God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just 
men made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of a 
new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that 
speaketh better than that of Abel." (Heb. 12.) 
"But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a 
holy nation, a people for God's own possession, 
that ye may show forth the excellencies of Him 
who called you out of the darkness into His mar- 
velous light.'' (I Peter 2:9.) ''Ye also, as living 
stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy 
priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, accepta- 
ble to God through Jesus Christ." (I Peter 2:5.) 



86 



PART TWO 

DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 



PART TWO 

DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 



CHAPTER I. 

THE RESURRECTION OF THE INWARD MAN. 

Christ the First to Rise. 

Christ w:as the first to rise. ^^In Adam all die." 
(I Cor. 15:22.) "I am the resurrection and the 
life." (John 11:25.) 'The invisible things of 
him since the creation of the world are clearly 
seen, being perceived through the things that are 
made, even his everlasting power and divinity ; 
that they may be without excuse." (Romans i : 
20.) 

How Christ's second coming and the sounding 
of the last trumpet affected those who lived un- 
der the old and shadowy dispensation, we know 
not further than declared by David. (Ps. 17:15.) 
Paul says, ''Behold I tell you a mystery." (I 
Cor. 15:51, I Thess. 4:16.) Yet it is a mystery 
still, for he has not made it clear enough to be 
easily understood. Even Paul himself, when 

87 • 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

''caught Up to the third heaven/' did not know 
whether he was in the body or out of it. (II Cor. 
12.) So we leave the transactions of that great 
and ''notable day'' as w!e have already said, with 
Him who numbered the stars. 

Saint John says, "That there shall be delay no 
longer ; but in the days of the voice of the seventh 
angel, when he is about to sound, then is finished 
the mystery of God, according to the good tidings 
which he declared to His servants, the prophets." 
(Rev. 10 :6, 7.) 

We know that the scriptures teach "that Christ 
should suffer and that He should be the first that 
should rise from the dead" (Acts 26:23 a. v.) 
"the first born among many brethren." (Rom. 
8 129. ) "The first fruits of them that slept" (Cor. 
15 :2o), "the first born from the dead ; that in all 
things he might have the preeminence." (Col. i : 

18.) 

Twice Born and Once Risen Christ. 

Christ was twice born, thus leaving an example 
to that and succeeding generations. He was born 
in Bethlehem of Judea, and he was born again or 
born anew in Joseph's new tomb. Of all the 
twice born men. He was the first. Of all the risen 
dead, that died to sin. He was the first. 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

The Resurrection of the ''Inward Man," 

''God being rich in mercy, for the great love 
wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead 
through our trespasses, made us alive together 
with Christ, raised us up with Him, and made us 
to sit with Him in the heavenly places in Christ 
Jesus." (Eph. 2:4, 5, 6.) This resurrection ex- 
perienced by Paul, and his converts at Ephesus, is, 
as it appears to us, the only resurrection that fits 
in with the resurrection of the risen Christ. Jesus 
evidently had reference to this resurrection when 
He said, ''Verily, verily, I say unto you ; The hour 
cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear 
the voice of the Son of God ; and they that hear 
shall live." (John 5:25.) In the 28th and 29th 
verses of the same chapter, He simply emphasized 
and enlarged upon this great truth of the Gospel, 
and said, "Marvel not at this: for the hour 
cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall 
hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that 
have done good, unto the resurrection of life ; and 
they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of 
judgment." 

The Voice of the Son of God, 

All heard his voice, for the Gospel was preached 
in all creation under heaven in that generation, 

89 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

and there were many devout men, like Cornelius, 
who were waiting for the consolation of Israel, 
and when they heard the voice of the Son of God 
through the gospel, gladly obeyed it, and were 
made alive together with Christ, and raised up 
with Him ; and they that rejected and spurned the 
gospel, their enlightenment only brought greater 
condemnation and finally the great judgments of 
God that came upon that generation. At the time 
Jesus spake these words, all, figuratively speak- 
ing, were dead and in their tombs. Paul said: 
"If one died for all, then were all dead." (II 
Cor. 5:14 a. V.) ''All were shut up under sin.'' 
(Gal. 3 122.) Christ said : ''I came that they may 
have life." (John 10:10.) "The law was given 
through Moses; grace and truth came through 
Jesus Christ." (John i :i7.) The law could not 
make alive. Paul said : "If there had been a law 
given which could make alive, verily righteous- 
ness would have been of the law." (Gal. 3:21.) 
Peter said: "For unto this end was the Gospel 
preached, even to the dead, that they might be 
judged indeed according to men in the flesh ; but 
live according to God in the spirit." (Peter 4 :6.) 
This resurrection was foretold by the prophet 
Daniel, when he said : "Many of them that sleep 
in the dust of the earth shall awake ; some to ever- ^ 

90 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

lasting life and some to shame and everlasting 
contempt/' (Dan. 12:2.) They were asleep while 
living in the physical body ; for it is dust of the 
earth. ''He knoweth our frame ; He remembereth 
that we are dust.'' (Ps. 103:14.) Isaiah said: 
"Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust." (Isa. 
26:19.) Paul uttered the same truth that Daniel 
had foretold when he said, ''Awake thou that 
sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall 
shine upon thee." (Eph. 5 :i4.) Again he said: 
"It is time for you to awake out of sleep ; for now 
is salvation nearer to us than when we first be- 
lieved." (Rom. 13:11.) 

It had been ordained that Christ "should be 
the first that should rise from the dead." (Acts 
26:2^ a. V.) The "first born among many breth- 
ren." (Rom. 8:29.) "The first born from the 
dead, all of which refer to the same event." (Col. 
1 : 18.) And all who would "follow His steps" 
must "awake out of sleep," must "arise from the 
dead," or, as Chirst himself declared, "Ye must 
be born anew." 

The Physical Resurrection the Objective of the 
Spiritual, 

Unbelievers as well as believers in Christ, must 
have the objective evidence of the resurrection, 

91 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

hence the risen bodies of the saints that appeared 
unto many in the Holy City. (Matt. 27:52, 53.) 
God has shown the invisible things through the 
visible, ''that they may be without excuse." Christ 
came to be the outward visible manifestation of 
the inward invisible plan of divine redemption not 
simply to declare it. This simple resurrection, if 
accompanied by self-denial and by growth in "the 
grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior 
Jesus Christ," will, in the fullness of time, raise 
us up "unto the measure of the stature of the full- 
ness of Christ." This resurrection satisfies the 
longings of the human heart. It is a present 
power in the believer. It is the life of God in the 
soul of man. It is Christ in you, and Christ in 
me, the hope of glory. What more do we need 
^ for life, for death or for eternity ? It takes naught 
of earth or sea or sky, to make this res- 
urrection complete, for "ye are complete in 
Him." (Col. 2:10 a. v.) It pleased the Father 
that in Him should all fullness dwell." (Col. 
1:19.) 

Risen with Christ and born anew are synony- 
mous terms, and have one goal, the Christ like- 
ness "If ye be risen with Christ" said the Apos- 
tle, "Seek the things that are above.' ' For by so 
doing they would become more and more like him 

92 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

who said, ^'I am the resurrection and the life/' 
Glorious resurrection! Our ''Forerunner/' our 
"Elder Brother" had but one resurrection. What 
are we who stand on the fulfilled side of types and 
examples of opened tombs, and opened seals and 
sounding trumpets that we should have more 
than one resurrection? We are satisfied here 
with our house from earth, and we believe that' 
we will be abundantly satisfied there ''with our 
house which is from heaven/' (II Cor. 5 :2 a. v.) 

The Resurrection of the Dead Absolutely 
EssentiaL 

In his first letter to the Corinthians, the Apos- 
tle has made it clear that the resurrection of the 
dead is absolutely essential to a continued exist- 
ence. In substance he says, if Christ be not 
risen, no one has risen. "Your faith is vain ; Ye 
are yet in your sins. Then they also which are 
fallen asleep in Christ have perished." The resur- 
rection of which he speaks in the 15th chapter of 
I Cor. (until he begins to tell you a mystery) is, 
as we believe the same as that in the II chapter 
of Ephesians. 

This is the resurrection of which he speaks: 
"Even when we were dead through our tres- 

93 



DEATH And the resiJ^MCtioi^ 

passes made us alive together with Christ, raised 
us up with Him and made us to sit with Him in 
the heavenly places in Christ Jesus." (Eph. 2: 

5,6.) _ 

Paul said to the Corinthians that if there was 
no resurrection of the dead (as some affirmed) 
then, not only was his preaching vain, but he was 
a false witness of God. Paul, however, knew that 
Christ had risen from the dead and that he -was 
the "first born among many brethren." There- 
fore, he, with the Corinthian brethren, had been 
made alive together with Christ and were raised 
up with him to walk in newness of life. 

'If the dead are not raised at all," said Paul, 
"why are they baptized for them?" It is a bap- 
tism of sorrow and suffering for those who were 
dead in trespass and in sins, of which the Apostle 
speaks. He said: "I have great heaviness and 
continual sorrow in my heart, for I could wish 
that myself were accursed from Christ for my 
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." 
(Rom. 9:2, 3, a. V.) Many Christians since 
Paul's day have also been baptized or burdened 
for the dead. 
The Resurrection of the Dead Most Beautiful, 

When divested of literalism, the resurrection of 
the dead is most beautiful, even more beautiful 

94 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

than the lilly of the valley or the rose of Sharon, 
for in the fulness of time the resurrected one is 
transformed into the likeness of the ''King in his 
beauty/' "transformed into the same image from 
glory to glory." 

The Resurrection of the Dead is Restful. 

It lays no heavy burden on our faith and love. 

The Resurrection of the Dead a Perennial Feast 
and Fountain. 

'Tor the Lamb which is in the midst of the 
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto 
living fountains of water." (Rev. 7:17, a. v.) 



^ 



CHAPTER 11. 

NO RESURRECTION FOR THE OUTWARD MAN. 

''The Things Which Are Seen Are Temporal!' 

As to the resurrection of the outward man or 
physical body, had it been appointed that it should 
rise from the tomb, Christ and not Lazarus would 
have been the first to come forth, for it is de- 
clared ''that He should be the first that should 
rise from the dead/' (Acts 26:23, a. v.) 'The 
first born from the dead that in all things He 
might have the preeminence." (Col. i :i8.) 

Advocating a future physical resurrection Mr. 
Perowine says: "We presume to put no limits 
upon the almighty power of God. We do not 
doubt that amid all the ceaseless infinite fluctua- 
tions of the material particles. His eye could trace 
each grain of dust, and His hand collect it, and 
bring it back to reconstitute the body. But we 
contend that any such process is as unnecessary 
as it is improbable. We maintain that the same 
body which has been laid in the grave may be 
raised at the last day ; though not one single ma- 
terial particle which went to constitute the one 
body, shall be found in the other." 

96 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

As we understand Paul's teaching the outward 
man or physical body is only a temporary house 
or tent for the inward man to dwell in for a little 
while, for he says : ''The things which are seen 
are temporal." (Cor. 4:18, a. v.) And again 
"Though our outward man perish, yet the inward 
man is renewed day by day." (II Cor. 4 :i6, a. v.) 
And yet again, ''For we know that if our earthly 
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have 
a building of God, an house not made with hands, 
eternal in the heavens." (II Cor. 5 :i, a. v.) 

It is true according to the authorized version 
that Paul said, the Lord Jesus Christ "shall 
change our vile body, that it may be fashioned 
like unto His glorious body." (Phil. 3 :2i, a. v.) 

In the Scriptures just quoted, Paul has certain- 
ly made it clear that the outward man is of only 
temporary duration for he says, "The things 
which are seen are temporal" and speaks of the 
outward man as being dissolved and of its perish- 
ing. In the dust of the earth there is no vileness. 
It cannot be properly said that a thing is vile 
, that is devoid of reason and of the power of 
choice. "No man," said Paul, "ever yet hated 
his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, 
even as the Lord the church." (Eph. 5 :2g, a. v.) 
A devoted Christian will not cherish a vile thing. 

97 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

So I think we will have to delve a little deeper 
than the physical body in order to find the mean- 
ing of Paul's words. 

Christ is the Way and the Plan of Redemption is 
Found in Him. 

This inward transformation was exemplified in 
the transformation of the body of Christ. His 
was a body of "no beauty" transformed into one 
of beauty, a ''glorious body." Long, long ago the 
prophet Isaiah foretold this inward transforma- 
tion, when he said: 'Tnstead of the thorn shall 
come up the fir tree ; and instead of the brier 
shall come up the myrtle tree." Paul says : ''We 
all beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the 
Lord, are transformed into the same image from 
glory to glory." Step by step it is a gradual 
transformation of the inward man into the Christ 
likeness. 

Thai Which Is Born of the Flesh Is Flesh. 

Jesus said : "That which is born of the flesh is 
flesh." (John 3 :6.) It is flesh throughout but not 
sinful flesh until the youth becomes sinful. "The 
imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth." 
(Gen. 8:21.) 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

Evil from His Youth, Not from Childhood. 

Paul often speaks of the inward man or 
the inward state of man as being flesh as 
''fleshy wisdom/' ''fleshy mind/' "when we were 
in the flesh/' and "The mind of the flesh is 
death/' "They that are in the flesh cannot please 
God/' "But ye are not in the flesh but in the spir- 
it/' The things that defile are from within, not 
from without. It is the inward flesh or inward 
man alone that becomes sinful and vile. When he 
becomes sinful, he becomes carnal and "to be car- 
nally minded is death/' (Rom. 8:6, a. v.) 
"Carnal mind" and "fleshy mind" are synonymous 
terms, so then "They that are in the flesh cannot 
please God." (Rom. 8:6, a. v.) Paul does not 
have reference to the outward flesh, for, if so, no 
one on earth could please God, but He has refer- 
ence to the carnal mind, which "is enmity against 
God." (Rom. 8:7.) He speaks the same truth 
in these words, "I know that in Me, that is, in my 
flesh dwelleth no good thing." (Rom. 7:18.) 
Paul did not claim inherent goodness. He says, 
"It is not the children of the flesh that are chil- 
dren of God." (Rom. 9:8.) Not His spiritual 
children. The birth of the flesh is only the 
groundwork for the spiritual birth. It makes a 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

mortal, but not an immortal man. Hence the 
words of Jesus, "Ye must be born again." (John 
3:7, a. V.) 

''As we have borne the image of the earthy, we 
shall also bear the image of the heavenly." (I Cor. 
15:49.) To bear the image of the heavenly is 
made possible only to those who die to sin and are 
made alive to God. After one is born anew or 
born of the spirit then a warfare begins. Paul 
says : ''Walk by the spirit and ye shall not fulfill 
the lusts of the flesh, for the flesh lusteth against 
the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh." (Gal. 
5:16, 17.) Paul admonished Timothy to "flee 
youthful lusts." 

Paul lived a victorious life, as all Christians 
may, if they will only let Christ live in them. Paul 
said, "I have been crucified with Christ ; and it is 
no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me." 
(Gal. 2:20.) And also "They that are Christ's 
have crucified the flesh with the affections and 
lusts." (Gal. 5:24, a. v.) Yet Paul knew that 
the "old man" was not absolutely dead nor "the 
body of sin" absolutely done away, for he said, 
"I buffet my body and bring it into bondage." 
(I Cor. 9 \2.y.^ And again, "Let not sin, therefore, 
reign in your mortal body that ye should obey the 
lusts thereof" (Rom. 6:12), "Knowing this that 

100 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

our old man was crucified with Him that the body 
of sin might be done away" (Rom. 6:6), and 
*'Who shall change our vile body, that it 
may be fashioned like unto His glorious body." 
(Phil. 3:21.) All of this, as we believe, has ref- 
erence to the inward body. Certainly he did not 
have reference to his physical body when he said, 
''Our old man was crucified with Him, that the 
body of sin might be done away," for he says, 
''No one ever yet hated his own flesh, but nour- 
isheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the 
church. 

A number of things taken together constitute 
a body. They do not necessarily have to be lit- 
eral hands and feet, eyes and ears or face and 
mouth. Although "God is a spirit," yet He is 
spoken of as having all these and other members 
of the body. The issues of life are spiritual and 
from within. Let it never be forgotten that God 
is a spirit, that His word is spiritual, and that 
these things are spiritually discerned. 

The Resurrection Seen in Nature, 

As the grain of wheat falls into the ground and 
dies, it is absorbed or swallowed up by the germ 
that is within the grain, so man, that is mortal, 
through the precious promises of God, partakes 

101 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

of the divine nature and when this begins to de- 
velop it may be said that he is begotten again, 
''not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, 
through the word of God'' (Peter i : 23.), and the 
divine nature or immortal spirit within the mortal 
man swallows up the mortal as the germ swal- 
lows up the grain of wheat. In this way the ''mor- 
tal puts on immortality", or mortality is "swal- 
lowed up of life," and "death is swallowed up in 
victory." (I Cor. 15 : 54.) 'Tut ye on the Lord 
Jesus Christ" (Rom. 13: 14), for this also is put- 
ting on immortality. 

There is no living without dying. 

Man must die (die to sin) in order to perpet- 
uate his existence. As Christ has said, "Whoso- 
ever would save his life shall lose it." (Matt. 
16 : 25.) Our ruling love makes our destiny. Or, 
as Pope has said. 

"One master passion in the breast, 
"Like Aaron's serpent, swallows up the rest." 

Paul's Explanation of the Resurrection, 
Paul anticipated questions concerning the res- 
urrection of the dead and said : "Some one will 
say, how are the dead raised and with what man- 
ner of body do they come. Thou foolish one, 
That which thou thyself soweth is not quickened 

log 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

except it die, and that which thou sowest, thou 
sowest not that body that shall be, but God giveth 
it a body even as it pleased Him, and to each seed 
a body of its own. ... So also is the resurrec- 
tion of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is 
raised in incorruption : It is sown in dishonor; 
it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness ; it is 
raised in power ; it is sown a natural body ; it is 
raised a spiritual body." (I Cor. 15.) 

As we understand it, Paul is describing the res- 
urrection of men dead in trespasses and in sins, 
not only of his own generation but of all the suc- 
ceeding generations until the last man that will 
rise has risen from a natural into a spiritual or 
from a mortal to an immortal state. 

When Paul says: ''It is sown in corruption; 
it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in weak- 
ness; it is raised in power," he has reference, 
we believe, to moral corruption and to moral 
weakness, and not to the corruption and 
weakness of the physical body, many millions 
of which have already returned to the earth as 
they were, for it is declared that the dust shall 
''return to the earth as it was." Peter says, "Hav- 
ing escaped from the corruption that is in the 
world" (II Peter 1:4), and "Promising them lib- 
erty, while they themselves are bondservants of 

103 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

corruption" (II Peter 2: 19), showing that Paul 
has reference to the moral corruption and not to 
corruption of the physical body, and that corrup- 
tion, weakness, dishonor, natural and mortal, ap- 
ply to the unregenerated men who are carnal and 
not spiritual. ''It is sown in dishonor ; it is raised 
in glory." There was a period in the apostle's 
own life that was exceedingly dishonorable. He 
says of himself, ''That beyond measure I perse- 
cuted the church of God and made havoc of it." 
(Gal. 1 : 13.) But after he met Jesus, while on 
his way to Damascus, he was a changed man. He 
was raised to walk in newness of life, and hatred 
for the church of God gave way for love. "In- 
stead of the thorn there came up the fir tree." 
Paul was raised from a state of dishonor to one of 
honor and glory. Therefore he could say from 
experience that it is "glory, honor and peace to 
every man that worketh good." So it is not 
strange when applied to the inward man that he 
said: "It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in 
glory." It is glory even in this life to them that 
obey the Lord. Paul says, "I have fought a good 
fight." He won the greatest of all struggles : He 
conquered himself. 

"It is sown a natural body ; it is raised a spirit- 
ual body" will be noticed farther on. 

104 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

Irreconcilable From a Literal Viewpoint. 

From a literal viewpoint the doctrine of the res- 
urrection is irreconcilable, especially for those who 
look to the future for the second coming of 
Christ. For example, it is highly improbable that 
Paul, who was once ''crucified with Christ,'' and 
was made alive with Him (and was raised up with 
Him) and walked in newness of life with Him, 
and made to sit in heavenly places with Him, 
and now dwelling in glory with Him, is waiting 
for another resurrection, is waiting for something 
to come from the graveyard to make him com- 
plete. I cannot believe that his wants reach be- 
yond heaven's supplies. That which is born from 
above must be fed and clothed from above. Christ 
came from above and He said unto His disciples, 
*'I have meat to eat that ye know not of." 

The physical body is not necessary either to 
preserve our identity, for it is nothing more than 
our earthly, temporal dwelling. ''Spiritual things 
are spiritually discerned." (I Cor. 2: 14.) 

We should not Hke to think of Paul as being 
unknown to the great multitude which he has 
helped into our Father's house of many mansions. 
Paul's Desire. 

If Paul's expectations were realized, he has 
certainly been fed and clothed and crowned 

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DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

through all the centuries since the generation in 
which he said, ''I have a desire to depart and to 
be with Christ (face to face), which is far bet- 
ter.'' (Phil. 1:23, a. V.) 'Willing rather to 
be absent from the body and to be at home with 
the Lord" (II Cor. 5:8), ''Earnestly desiring to 
be clothed upon with our house which is from 
heaven." (II Cor. 5:2, A. V.) 

Paul declared that "We all beholding as in a 
mirror the glory of the Lord are transformed into 
the same image." If Paul by beholding the glory 
of the Lord has been transformed into the same 
image, it is obvious that he needs nothing from 
this "terrestrial ball." 

The Destiny of the Outward Man, 
"The ancient Egyptians preserved the bodies 
of their dead in order to give the soul a home on 
its return to earth." Yet with all their skill those 
bodies are crumbling to dust. It could not be 
otherwise, for dust is their destiny. The destiny 
of the outward man, as it seems to me, was sealed 
forevermore when God said : "Dust thou art and 
unto dust shalt thou return." O, brethren and sis- 
ters, let us teach a resurrection for the inward 
man but leave the outward man with the temporal 
things, as did Paul, to be "dissolved" and to "per- 
ish." 

106 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SOURCES OF DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION. 

The Death of Adam. 

' The first man, Adam, ''was placed in a fruitful 
garden, among fruit-bearing trees, and all his 
surroundings were good and beautiful, for God 
saw everything that He had made, and behold, it 
was very good, and He hath made everything 
beautiful in its time.'' Adam was doubtless as 
good and beautiful as his environment, for sin had 
not yet entered into the world to molest and make 
afraid. And Jehovah, God, commanded the man, 
saying, "Of every tree of the garden thou mayst 
freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of 
good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it : for in the 
day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely 
die.'' (Gen. 2: i6, 17.) 

''The tree was planted and why not for him ? 
If not, why place him near it, where it grew 

The fairest in the center? 
There can be but one answer — 
'Twas His will, and He is good." 

— Byron. 
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DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

Nevertheless, Adam and Eve ate of the forbid- 
den tree and ''the eyes of them both were opened," 
and Jehovah, God, said : ''Behold, the man is be- 
come as one of us, to know good and evil." With 
the knowledge of good and evil came fear and 
shame — a state of condemnation which is called 
death — the death that all die in Adam, the ap- 
pointed death mentioned in Hebrews 9 : 27, since 
disobedience and death are universal with the 
human race. Paul said that "In Adam all die." 
(I Cor. 15 : 22.) And again that "We thus judge, 
that one died for all, therefore all died." (II Cor. 
5: 14.) Therefore, as through one man sin en- 
tered into the world, and death through sin, so 
death passed unto all men, for that all sinned." 
(Rom. 5:12.) "And you did He make alive, 
when ye were dead through your trespasses and 
sins." (Eph. 2:1.) "So then as through one 
trespass the judgment came unto all men to con- 
demnation, even so through one act of righteous- 
ness the free gift came untO' all men to justifica- 
tion of Hfe." (Rom. 5: 18.) 

The Christ Life a Deathless Life. 

In the light of the above Scriptures may we not 
reasonably conclude that Paul has reference to the 
soul of man and not the house in which it is con- 

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DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

fined ? The soul does not surely die at first, again 
He ''calleth things that are not, as though they 
were/' (Rom. 4: 17.) It is, however, under the 
sentence of death and if death is not abolished, 
the soul will surely die. Paul says : "Death 
passed unto all men, for that all sinned." There- 
fore all come under condemnation or the first 
death, and for this death there is a resurrection ; 
for Paul says : "God, being rich in mercy, for 
His great love wherewith He loved us, even 
when we were dead through our trespasses, made 
us alive together with Christ, and raised us up 
with Him.'' (Eph. 2: 5, 6.) This is the death- 
less life. Christ said : "Verily, verily, I say unto 
you if a man keep My word, he shall never see 
death." (John 8:51.) Again He said : "Whoso- 
ever liveth and believeth on me shall never die" 
(John 11:26), physical death being overlooked 
and disregarded in comparison with that which is 
the only real death. 

Chrisfs Love for Man, 
We neither know how long it takes "grace" to 
perfect the soul nor how long it takes "sin" to de- 
stroy it. "We cannot," said Dr. Hathaway, "limit 
the mercy of God, nor set bounds of space and 
time to His love and compassion." James McLeod 
speaks most beautifully of His love : 
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DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

"Purer than the purest fountain, 
Wider than the widest sea, 
Sweeter than the sweetest music 
Is God's love in Christ to me." 

Shakespeare also says : 
'Tor thy sweet love remember'd such wealth 

brings 
That then I scorn to change my state with kings." 

Transforming Pozver of Jesus. 

''Have I any pleasure in the death of the wick- 
ed? saith the Lord Jehovah, and not rather that 
he should return from his way and live?" (Ezek. 
i8 : 23.) "The Lord is long suffering not wishing 
that any should perish, but that all should come to 
repentance." (II Peter 3:9.) "We ourselves," 
says Paul, "have had the sentence of death, with- 
in ourselves, that we should not trust in our- 
selves, but in God Who raiseth the dead, Who de- 
livered us out of so great a death, and doth de- 
liver : on whom we have set our hope that He will 
also still deliver us." (II Cor. 1 19, 10.) Paul had 
passed out of death into life ; he had been "raised 
together witE Christ," and was walking in new- 
ness of life, which is the beginning of the resur- 
rection, the consummation of which is to be like 
Christ in mind and heart and soul. This is the 

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DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

goal for which the heroic apostle suffered the loss 
of all things that he might gain: Although he 
does not wish to say that he has already attained 
or been made perfect, he says : ''I press on toward 
the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God 
in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:10-14.) 

Oh blessed transformation! Forever to be 
adored is he who is able to make alive and trans- 
form the truly penitent into his own likeness ; 
though he be the lowest, ugliest and meanest of 
mankind. 

Only Two Human Souls Created, 

Only two human souls were created. All others 
are begotten ; for God gave to man as well as to 
the lower order of creation the power of repro- 
duction. 

The Old Creation, Natural and Earthy. 

Now, as we understand it, man was not created 
spiritual and heavenly ; he was created natural 
and earthy. (I. Cor. 15:46,47.) We do not 
have reference to the physical. That which 
makes him man is not in his physical body but 
the thoughts and intentions of the heart make him 
such in the sight of God. 

Not until the last Adam rose from the dead 
111 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

and ''became a life-giving spirit'' could man be 
born anew and become spiritual. 

Not until this new creation, is man created in 
the very likeness and image of God as it was said 
of His son. (Heb. 1:3.) It is the last, and not 
the first Adam that bears the image of the heav- 
enly. ''He calleth the things that are not, as 
though they were." (Rom. 4:17.) 

The first is but a natural likeness. "That is not 
first which is spiritual," said Paul, "but that which 
is natural." This has never been reversed. "He 
that is of the earth, is of the earth, and of the 
earth he speaketh." (John 3:31.) 

The New Creation Spiritual and Godlike. 

Paul declared : "If any man is in Christ, he is 
a new creature, the old things are passed away." 
(II Cor. 5 : 17.) Again he says, "Be renewed in 
the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man, 
that after God hath been created in righteousness 
and holiness of truth." (Eph. 4:23, 24.) This 
is the creation that makes the man complete and 
in the very likeness and image of God. Until 
this new creation, he can neither turn the other 
cheek nor go the second mile. 

"Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except one 
be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 

112 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except 
one be born of water ('the worcf'')and the spirit, 
he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That 
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which 
is born of the Spirit is spirit/' (John 3:6.) 

Man partakes of the divine nature through the 
promises of God. Peter says, ''He hath granted 
unto us His precious and exceeding great prom- 
ises ; that through these ye may become partakers 
of the divine nature.'' (H Peter 1:4.) Again he 
says : ''Having been begotten again, not of cor- 
ruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the 
word of God, which liveth and abideth." (I Peter 
1:23.) 

"He came unto His own, and they received 
Him not. But as many as received Him, to them 
gave He the right to become children of God, 
even to them that believe on His name : who were 
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 
nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 
1 : 11-13.) "Of His own will begat He us with the 
word of truth. (James i : 18.) 

In the heart of man there is a longing for a 
God, as the Psalmist exclaimed : "My heart and 
my flesh cry out unto the living God," and as St. 
Augustine said : "Thou hast made us for Thee, 

113 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

O Lord, and restless are our hearts till they re- 
pose in Thee/' 

The religious nature and the aspirations of a 
soul after God and holiness is certainly the most 
precious thing in man, and nothing short of the 
bread and water of life can satisfy the cravings 
of his nature. 

'T am the bread of life ; he that cometh to Me 
shall not hunger; and he that believeth in Me 
shall never thirst." (John 6:35.) 

''No joy for which the hungering soul has panted, 
No hope it cherishes through waiting years. 

But if thou dost deserve it shall be granted. 

For with each passionate wish the blessing 
nears. 

The thing thou cravest now waits in the distance, 
Wrapt in the silences, unseen and dumb, 

Essential to thy soul and thy existence ; 
Live worthy of it, call, and it shall come." 

Mortal and Immortal. 

''The first man is of the earth earthy, the sec- 
ond man is of heaven." (I Cor. 15 147.) "Ye are 
from beneath, I am from above ; ye are of this 
world, I am not of this world." (John 8: 23.) 

Christ's native home is in Heaven ; ours is on 
114 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

earth ; He came down ; we come up. Moreover, 
mortality came by the first Adam ; ImmortaHty by 
the second Adam. The descendants of the first 
Adam die. They all die in their youth — ''or in the 
day that thou eatest thereof." This being the first, 
it is not a hopeless death ; for the prom- 
ise of the second Adam is : ''He that be- 
lieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he 
live." This is life eternal ; for he adds : "Who- 
soever liveth, and believeth in me shall never die." 
(John II :25, 26, a. v.) It is evident that in this 
conversation with Martha of Bethany he had no 
reference whatever to physical death. He had, 
as we believe, refernce to the "dead in sins," and 
to all who are made alive from that death. The 
proof of this may readily be seen in the following 
scriptures: "You did he make alive, when ye 
were dead through your trespasses and sins." 
"Even when we were dead through our 
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ." 
(Eph. 2:1, 4.) "That we, having died unto sins, 
might live unto righteousness." (I Peter 2:24.) 

Sin and Death. 

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezek. 
18:20.) This solemn truth occurs again and 
again in the Bible, and is to me conclusive evi- 

115 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

dence that the penalty for sin is soul death, not a 
physical death for the latter, like the earning of 
bread by the sweat of our face. This is surely a 
blessing to the human race, as natural for man 
as the birth which gave him being. As for the 
animals which have no sin, "as the one dieth, so 
dieth the other, — all go unto one place, all are of 
the dust, and all turn to dust again.'' (Eccl. 3: 
19, 20.) 

Physical Death no Detriment. 

"O Death, the poor man's dearest friend — 
The kindest and the best ! 
Welcome the hour my aged limbs 

Are laid with thee at rest ! 
The great, the wealthy, fear thy blow 

From pomp and pleasure torn; 
But, oh ! a blest relief to those 
That weary-laden mourn !" 

— Burns. 

''And I am glad that he has lived thus long, 
And glad that he has gone to his reward; 
Nor can I deem that nature did him wrong. 
Softly to disengage the vital cord. 
For when his hand grew palsied, and his eye 
Dark with the mists of age, it was his time to 
die." — Bryant. 

116 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

"Death is as sweet as the flowers are. It is as 
blessed as bird-singing in spring. I never hear 
of the death of anyone who is ready to die, that 
my heart does not sing like a harp. I am sorry 
for those that are left behind, but not for those 
who have gone before.'' — Beecher, 

Physical death is the Christian's passport to 
''an eternal weight of glory." 

Soul-Death the Only Evil, 

There is, however, a death — a second death, 
which is the first death unduly prolonged on 
which no blessing has ever been pronounced, a 
death from which there can be no arising ; a sleep 
from which there can be no awakening, for after 
that death there is no more life. ''He that over- 
cometh shall not be hurt of the second death." 

Paul says : "What fruit then had ye at that 
time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? 
For the end of those things is death." (Rom. 
6:21.) "For the wages of sin is death." (Rom. 
6:23.) "For if ye live after the flesh, ye must 
die." (Rom. 8:13.) "He that soweth unto his 
own flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption." 

James says : "Sin, when it is full grown, bring- 
eth forth death." (James i :iS.) 

117 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

''Let him know, that he who converteth a sin- 
ner from the error of his way, shall save a soul 
from death/' (James 5:20.) Peter says: "But 
these, as natural brute beasts made to be taken 
and destroyed speak evil of the things that they 
understand not; and shall utterly perish in their 
own corruption/' (II Peter 2:12.) In speaking 
of the enemies of the cross of Christ, Paul says : 
''Whose end is destruction/' (Phil. 3:19), and 
again, "In them that perish, a savor from death 
unto death/' (II Cor. 2:16.) "Wide is the gate 
and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction." 
(Math. 7:13.) "Whosoever would save his life," 
said Christ, "shall lose it — for what is a man 
profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose or 
forfeit his own self?" (Luke 9:24, 25.) 

These words of Jesus and of his apostles cer- 
tainly make it as clear as words can, that sin, if 
it is not checked in its development, will ulti- 
mately destroy the soul. This we believe to be 
"the eternal punishment," "the eternal destruc- 
tion from the face of the Lord." God is merciful, 
and nothing more merciful could befall the in- 
corrigible. 

James says : "The Lord is full of pity, and 
merciful," and Peter says : He "is long suffering 
not wishing that any should perish." 
118 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

''Shall not the judge of all the earth do right f 
Not alone in the Bible is this question written, 
but also in the very depths of the human heart. 

Life is Begotten of the Belief in the Son of Man, 

The imperishable life is promised to those only, 
who believe on the only begotten Son of God. 
''He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; 
but he that obeyeth not the son shall not see lif^, 
but the wrath of God abideth on him." (John 3 : 

36.) 

''None can keep alive his own soul." (Psalms 
22: 29, A. V.) 

"No created thing sustains itself." 

As we understand it, the Bible gives no assur- 
ance of the immortality of the soul except through 
faith in Him who is the bestower of immortality. 

"Ye are all sons of God through faith in Christ 
Jesus." (Gal. 3 126.) But faith that does not act, 
is lifeless ; therefore, in order to become a living 
son, one must have living faith. The prodigal 
son said : "I will arise and go to my father," and 
he went. That is living faith. 

"He, who will not take the living water, nor 
receive the living bread, can have no life in him. 
If the sheep who hear and know the voice of 
Jesus receive eternal life and never perish, then 

119 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

obviously they who neither hear nor know his 
voice receive not the eternal life, but perish/' 

— McLane. 

Life Outside of Christ is Doomed, 

In the third chapter of Matthew, John the Bap- 
tist says: ''He will gather his wheat into the 
garner, but the chaff he will burn up with un- 
quenchable fire/' ''Unquenchable fire/' says Mc- 
Lane, "does not denote inconsummable fuel, but 
fire which like the uncontrollable blaze of a straw 
fire, cannot be quenched and consumes that upon 
which it feeds/' 

In the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus 
says: "It is good for thee to enter into life 
maimed and halt, rather than having two hands 
or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire/' 

In the epistle of Jude, which says that Sodom 
and Gomorrah are set forth as an example suf- 
fering the punishment of eternal fire casts some 
light upon the Scriptural meaning of the words 
"eternal fire/' 

Although no heaven-sent word gives ground 
for hope, yet, we may share with Tennyson 

"The wish, that of the living whole 
No life may fail beyond the grave/' 
120 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHRIST THE SAVIOUR OF THE INNER MAN. 

Christ's Mission and Character. 

The Son of Man came not to be ministered un- 
to but to minister ; he left his glory and riches be- 
hind and became the poorest of the poor, poorer 
than the birds and foxes for he had not where to 
lay his head. The only crown he wore was a 
wreath of thorns. Nothing was lacking to com- 
plete his humiliation. A thief had been pre- 
ferred to him and they crucified him between 
two thieves. Moreover he came ''in the likeness 
of sinful flesh." (Rom. 8:3.) 

In the 52nd and 53rd chapters of Isaiah, the 
prophet has described the bodily appearance of 
the lowly Nazarene, saying : "His visage was so 
marred more than any man, and his form more 
than the sons of men. . . . He grew up 
before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of 
a dry ground; he hath no form nor comeliness, 
and when we see him, there is no beauty that we 
should desire him." 

This marred visage and form, he took upon 
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DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

him (be it reverently said) to be in the likeness 
of sin, that he might die to sin for an example 
unto all after generations, that a death to sin must 
precede the resurrection and the life. How else 
could the Sinless One die to sin? That which 
Moses lifted up in the wilderness to cure, was 
shaped in the likeness of that which wounded. 
Even so with the Son of Man who was lifted up 
on the cross to cure sin bitten souls. 

"Him who knew no sin, he made to be sin on 
our behalf." (H Cor. 5:21.) 

Here, as nowhere else, the invisible things can 
be clearly seen through the things that are made. 

As Christ voluntarily died to the likeness of 
sin, so must we voluntarily die to actual sin. 

Christ said of his life, "No one taketh it away 
from me, but I lay it down of myself." 

He was made to he sin for us ; he died unto sin 
for us, and he rose from the dead for us. "Who 
his own self said Peter, "bare our sins in his 
own body on the tree." (Peter 2 :24, a. v.) "And 
he died for all," said Paul, "that they that live 
should no longer live unto themselves, but unto 
Him who for their sakes died and rose again." 

"He was manifested to put away sin by the 
sacrifice of himself." 

122 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

"The death that He died He died unto sin 
once." 

He ''suffered for you, leaving you an example, 
that ye should follow his steps/' 

He came to be the way, not simply to declare 
it. 

The human mind must have God in human 
form and the world must see the cross. ''I, if I 
be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto 
myself." So said the Savior of men. 

The cross is for all ages and all countries — the 
cross is the cure for human sin, for the only 
way to be delivered from sin is to die to it. 

''O Cross, that liftest up my head 
I dare not ask to fly from thee; 
I lay in dust life's glory dead ; 
And from the ground there blossoms red 
Life that shall endless be." 

The Man of Sorrows. 

Although Jesus bore our sins ''in his body 
upon the tree," his sufferings were not all of the 
body, for he "was a man of sorrows and ac- 
quainted with grief." He said unto his disciples 
on the night of his betrayal: "My soul is ex- 
ceeding sorrowful, even unto death." Paul says 

123 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

of him, "who in the days of his flesh, having of- 
fered up prayers and supplications with strong 
crying and tears unto him that was able to save 
him from death, and having been heard for his 
godly fear, though he was a Son, yet learned 
obedience by the things which he suffered." 
(Heb. 5 :;, 8.) 

Did he not taste of the depths of that deep, 
dark, godforsaken feeling that sometimes comes 
over the soul of one who is without God and 
without hope? Surely he descended into the 
depths of human sorrow and suffering, or He 
could not have tasted of death for every man. 
He is, therefore, touched with the feeling of our 
infirmities, "for in that he himself hath suffered 
being tempted, he is able to succor them that are 
tempted. 

The Meaning of Death. 

Paul says, "If then ye were raised together 
with Christ, seek the things that are above." (Col. 
3. I.) "For if we become united with him in the 
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the like- 
ness of his resurrection; knowing this, that our 
old man was crucified with Him, that the body of 
sin might be done away" (Rom. 6:5-6), which 
body is anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful 

124 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

speaking, fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil 
desire and covetousness. These ugly members 
certainly make a very vile body and if not put to 
death will rob man of his soul, and leave him like 
a beast to perish. The death of all these things 
is the putting off of the old man — the putting off 
of the body of the sins of the flesh and being cru- 
cified with Christ. (See Col. 2:11, a. v.) 'Tut 
to death, therefore, your members which are upon 
the earth." (See Col. 3 : 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.) 

The New Body. 

But to have love, joy, peace, long suffering, 
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self- 
control, is to have our body fashioned anew, and 
become "conformed to the body of His glory," and 
become as little children, not in mind but in mal- 
ice. 

God created human nature as well as all nature ; 
therefore the main traits in human nature are al- 
ways the same. 

Human nature itself is not sinful, else a little 
child would be sinful, and He also who ''took not 
on Him the nature of angels," but the seed of 
Abraham. 

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DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

^'In nature there's no blemish, but the mind, 
None can be called deformed but the unkind." 

— Shakespeare, 

The Two Bridegrooms and the Two Brides. 

It is essential that man's first estate be natural 
and earthy for he has an earthly mission. 

The earth must be replenished, and marriage is 
an institution for replenishing the natural race of 
man, and this institution is as old as the human 
race. For God caused a deep sleep to fall upon 
the first or natural Adam and from his side He 
took a rib and made for him a natural bride. 

He also caused a deep sleep to fall upon the sec- 
ond or spiritual Adam and from his pierced side 
flowed the blood that makes for him a spiritual 
bride. 

The Inward Body, 

As we understand it, Paul sometimes calls the 
inward man a body, and in his natural, unregener- 
ate state, man is called a natural or mortal body, 
or the body of our humiliation. When quickened 
by the spirit, which is always preceded by repent- 
ence and dying to sin, then it is called a spiritual 
body. But it is only in the making; the trans- 
formation has begun, and if he does no violence 

126 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

to the new nature, which is the spirit of Christ 
within the natural or mortal body, the spirit will 
gradually transform the natural into a spiritual 
body, or the natural man into a spiritual man. A 
spiritual man? Yes, after many days when the 
words of his mouth and the meditations of his 
heart are acceptable to God. 

The Natural Man and the Spiritual Man. 

That which is mortal is ''swallowed up of life.'' 
''If there is a natural body," says Paul, "there is 
also a spiritual body." He does not, as I view it, 
have reference to the physical body, so this is 
equivalent to saying that if there is a natural man, 
there is also a spiritual man, for he refers to the 
two Adams (see I Cor. 15 : 42, 49), the first Adam 
a natural man ; the second Adam a spiritual man. 
As we understand it, Adam did not fall from a 
spiritual state and become natural; he was cre- 
ated so. 

That Paul speaks of the inward man as a body, 
and that it may be the dwelling place of the spirit 
of Christ, is clear from the following Scriptures. 
"If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of 
sin ; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. 
But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from 

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DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

the dead dwelleth in you, He that raised up Jesus 
Christ from the dead shall give life also to your 
mortal bodies through His spirit that dwelleth in 
you." (Rom. 8:io, ii.) 'That ye may be 
strengthened with power through His spirit in the 
inward man.'' (Eph. 3: 16.) ''Inward man" and 
"mortal bodies" evidently mean the same. Again 
Paul says : "Wherefore we faint not ; but though 
our outward man is decaying yet our inward man 
is renewed day by day." (H Cor. 4: 16.) 

The Inner Temple Man's Greatest Treasure. 

So Paul speaks of an outward man and of an 
inward man, and of a spirit in the inward man or 
body. He also speaks of the inward man as a 
temple. "Know ye not that ye are a temple of 
God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you ? 
If any man destroyeth the temple of God, him 
shall God destroy ; for the temple of God is Holy, 
and such are ye." (I Cor. 3: 16.) Thus we see 
that the inward man — the temple — is holy because 
of the presence of the spirit of God, and that the 
temple can be destroyed. Sin, unrepented of, will 
as surely destroy the inward temple as leprosy will 
the outward temple. 

In the loth chapter of Matthew, Jesus bids men 
not to fear them who kill the body but cannot kill 

128 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

the soul ; rather to fear Him who is able to destroy 
both soul and body in hell. We believe Paul has 
reference to the inward body when he says, 
''Know ye not that your bodies are members of 
Christ?" (I Cor. 6: 15) and ''who shall fashion 
anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be 
conformed to the body of His glory.'' (Phil. 
3 : 21.) "Having our body washed with pure wa- 
ter.'' (Heb. 10:22.) Nothing but the word of 
God can make clean a defiled body ; the defilement 
is within and nothing short of the constant pres- 
ence and power of the spirit of Christ himself 
can keep it clean. 

But when Paul says : "Our outward man is de- 
caying" (H Cor. 4 : 16) and "We know that if the 
earthly house of our tabernacle be dissolved" 
(H Cor. 5:1), and when Peter says, "knowing 
that the putting ofif of my tabernacle cometh 
swiftly" (H Peter i: 14), we are assured that 
they have reference to the outward body, the 
earthy vesture, the tenement of clay borrowed 
from earth for a little while. 

The Death of the Outward Man Is of Little 
Concern. 

It is the universal law that dust return to dust, 
not because of sin, but because it is dust. "The 

129 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

dust returneth to the earth as it was." (Eccl. 
12:7.) 

"When I pass on, O friend, 
Let my worn body blend 
With common dust and mend 
Its mortal ills, and be 
Returned in bud and tree. 

"So when I go away, 
Let nature have her sway 
To resurrect my clay 
In bud and bloom and leaf. 
Green blade and ripened sheaf." 

— Parker, 

Even though it be called death for the earthly 
house to be dissolved when the earthly task is 
done, and go the way of all the earth, it should 
be esteemed a boon. 

"The best is yet to be." 

"Precious in the sight of Jehovah is the death 
of his saints." (Psalms 16:15.) 

Good old Simeon said : "Now let thy servant 
depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy 
salvation.". And Paul, "For me to live is Christ 
and to die is gain." John, the Revelator, "heard 

130 



DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

a voice from heaven saying, 'Write, blessed are 
the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth; 
yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their 
labors ; for their works follow with them." (Rev. 
14:13.) But they also remain for "A good man 
leaveth an inheritance to his children's children." 
(Prov. 13:22.) 

"So long thy power hath blessed me, sure it still 
Will lead me on. 
O'er moor and fen. O'er crag and torrent till 

The night is gone! 
And with the morn those angel faces smile 
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile." 

— Newman, 

*'Ah, well! for us all some sweet hope lies 
Deeply buried from human eyes, 
And, in the hereafter, angels may 
Roll the stone from its grave away." 

— Whittier. 

Death and the Resurrection of the Inner Man. 

In his death and resurrection, our Lord Jesus 
Christ left to man a visible example of the in- 
visible death and resurrection that must take place 
within all who would overcome and sit down with 

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DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

Him in His throne, according to the promise, 
''Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead 
body shall they arise/' (Isa. 26 : 19, A. V.) 'The 
death that he died, he died unto sin once." "Even 
so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin/' 
"He showed himself alive after his passion by 
many proofs." "God being rich in mercy — made 
us alive together with Christ and raised us up 
with him." "The life that he liveth, he liveth unto 
God." Present yourselves unto God, as alive 
from the dead. His body was sown a natural 
body and raised a spiritual body. Ours, also, is 
sown a natural body, and raised a spiritual body. 
His body saw no corruption ; neither will ours if 
the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the 
dead dwells within. His body was not wholly 
spiritual when he arose from Joseph's new tomb. 
Neither is ours when we emerge from entomb- 
ment. 

"Our Savior Christ Jesus, abolished death, and 
brought life and immortality to light through the 
gospel." (H Tim. 1:10.) 

We too may abolish death and 
Live the immortal life with Him; 
But this way leads to the cross, 
For we too must die to sin. 
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DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION 

'Tis the only way to conquer death ; 

The only way to remove the sting ; 
Apart from death to Sin, no newness of life, 
No walking in sweet communion with Him ; 

Not even seeing the Kingdom of God. 
Much less entering in! 



133 



MISCELLANY 



MISCELLANY 

A MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTION 



When Daniel Webster made his last visit to 
John Adams, the aged ex-President said : 'T am 
as well as a man of ninety could expect. You 
see I am afflicted with an incurable disease — old 
age. My house is getting very shaky and so far 
as I can see, the landlord is not going to make 
any more repairs.'' — Selected, 



The naively expressed reasons which led Bun- 
yan himself to hesitate about publishing the Pil- 
grim's Progress, are equally applicable to its be- 
ing acted; and Dr. MacDonald's friends and 
critics differ as widely in their judgment as 
did Bunyan's friends of old. Says the author : 

''When I had thus put my ends together, 

I showed them others, that I might see whether 

They would condemn them or would justify. 

And some said. Let them live ; some. Let them 

die; 

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MISCELLANY 



Some said, John, print it ; others said, Not so ; 
Some said, It might do good; others said, No." 

— Selected, 



Most books, like their authors, are born to die ; 
of only a few books can it be said that death hath 
no dominion over them, they live, and their influ- 
ence lives forever. — /. Szvartz. 



The books for all time were written, as Ruskin 
again says, "because the author has something to 
say which he perceives to be true and useful, or 
helpfully beautiful; so far as he knows, no one 
has yet said it; so far as he knows, no one else 
can say it. He is bound to say, clearly and melod- 
iously, if he may — clearly at all events. In the 
sum of his life he finds this to be the thing, 
or group of things, manifest to him ; this the piece 
of true knowledge, or sight, which his share of 
sunshine and earth has permitted him to seize. 
He would fain set it down forever ; engrave it on 
rock, if he could, saying. This is the best of 
me; for the rest I ate, and drank, and slept, and 
loved, and hated, like another. My life was as 
the vapor and is not ; but this I saw and knew ; 
this, if anything of mine is worth your memory. 

— Selected. 
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MISCELLANY 



Get the good out of a book without demanding 
that it shall satisfy you in every line. 

— Selected. 



They are the best Christians who are more 
careful to improve themselves than to censure 
others. — Selected. 



Whatever a man does to another he does to 
himself, whether it be good or evil. 

— Hawthorne. 



To thine own self be true. And it must follow, 
as the night the day. Thou canst not then be 
false to any man. — Shakespeare. 



The way to know God is to love and obey Him. 
''He that doeth his will shall know of the doc- 
trine." Men who stand aloof from a holy life 
are not capable of discussing wisely about God or 
heaven or redemption ! — Wortmun. 



The man who is worthy of being a leader of 
men will never complain of the stupidity of his 
helpers ; of the ingratitude of mankind ; or of the 
inappreciation of the public. These things are all 
a part of the great game of life, and to meet them 

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MISCELLANY 



and not go down before them in discouragement 
and defeat, is the final proof of power. 

— Elbert Hubbard, 



The greatest man is he who chooses the right 
with invincible resolution ; who resists the sorest 
temptations from within and without ; who bears 
the heaviest burdens cheerfully ; who is calmest 
in storms and most fearless under menace and 
frowns ; and whose reliance on truth, on virtue 
and on God is most unfaltering. 

— Channing, 



Let every man who believes he has a message 
speak out the thing that is in him. 

— Selected, 



Men who have learned to nurse their souls on 
truth in solitary meditation and communion with 
the invisible, speak at length words that men 
must hear and heed. — Moorhead. 



Let him who would move and convince others, 
be first moved and convinced himself. 

— Carlyle, 

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MISCELLANY 

Be true, if you would be believed. Let a man 
but speak forth with genuine earnestness the 
thought, the emotion, the actual condition of his 
own heart ; and other men, so strangely are we 
all knit together by the tie of sympathy, must 
and will give heed to him. In culture, in extent 
of view, we may stand above the speaker or be- 
low him ; but in either case, his words, if they 
are earnest and sincere, will find some response 
within us. As face answers to face, so does 
the heart of man to man. — Carlyle. 



There is no man who may not learn something 
from any other. He who ordains praise from the 
mouth of babes has willed that the great may 
take lessons from the lowly, the cultured from 
the unlettered. No truth should be rejected be- 
cause of the strange or the unwelcome form in 
which it may come. — Selected. 



Wisdom is won by the discipline of life as 
truly as by the discipline of the schools, and many 
a young college graduate has learned by bitter 
experience that he can not afford to despise the 
judgment of men with less book learning, but 
greater life wisdom. — Rev. Dr, Fenn. 

139 



MISCELLANY 

Daniel Webster says: ''Knowledge does not 
comprise all which is contained in the large term 
of education. The feelings are to be disciplined, 
the passions are to be restrained ; true and worthy 
motives are to be inspired; a profound religious 
feeling is to be instilled, and pure morality incul- 
cated under all circumstances. All this is com- 
prised in education." 



A man already strong is listened to, and every- 
thing he says is applauded. Another opposes him 
with sound argum.ent, but the argument is scout- 
ed, until by and by it gets into the mind of some 
weighty person ; then it begins to tell upon the 
community. — Emerson, 



The close observation of the little things is the 
secret of all true success in business, in art, in sci- 
ence, and in every pursuit in life. Human knowl- 
edge is but the accumulation of small facts, made 
by successive generations of men — the little bits 
of experience carefully treasured up by them 
growing into a mighty pyramid. 

— Smiles. 



140 



MORTALITY 



(From The Standard Dictionary of Facts, edited 
by Henry W. Ruoff.) 

If we assume the population of the earth to be 
one thousand milHons, and a generation to last 
thirty-three years, in that space of time the one 
thousand millions must all die, and, consequently, 
the number of deaths will be, by approximation: 

Each year 30,000,000 

Each day 82,107 

Each hour 3421 

Each second nearly i 

One quarter of the population die at or before 
the age of 7 ; the half part of it die at or before the 
age of 17. One in 100,000 persons reaches the 
age of 100 years ; one in 500 reaches the age of 
90; one in 100 the age of 60. 



To all who are disposed to criticize you after 
you have decided to take a given course, because 
God calls you that way, you will be able to say, 
with Paul: ''With me it is a very small thing 

141 



MISCELLANY 



that I should be judged of you or of man's judg- 
ment. He that judgeth me is God/' 

— Hyde, 



By thine own soul's law, learn to live ; 

And if men thwart thee, take no heed, 
And if men hate thee, have no care — 

Sing thou thy song and do thy deed ; 
Hope thou thy hope, and pray thy prayer, 

And claim no crown they will not give. 

— Whittier. 



A pure heart at the end of life, and a lowly 
mission well accomplished, are better than to 
have filled a great place in the earth, and have 
a stained soul and a wrecked destiny. 

— /. R. Miller. 



This truth comes to us more and more the 
longer we live, that on what field or in what uni- 
form, or with what aims we do our duty matters 
very little; or even what our duty is, great or 
small, splendid or obscure ; only to find our duty 
certainly and somewhere or somehow to do it 
faithfully, makes us good, strong, happy, and 

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MISCELLANY 



useful men and tunes our lives into some feeble 
echo of the life of God. 

— Phillips Brooks. 



Let us beware of losing our enthusiasm. Let 
us ever glory in something, and strive to retain 
our admiration for all that would ennoble and our 
interest in all that would enrich and beautify our 
life. — Phillips Brooks. 



Sincerity is power. Being insincere in any 
way, however slight, tampers with the sources 
of power in one's own soul. Sincere thinking, 
sincere living, should be cultivated by every 
young man or woman who wishes to grow in 
character. —Selected. 



Greater than intellect, greater than gold, 
greater than the world a noble character. 

— Selected, 



If happiness has not its seat 

And center in the breast. 
We may be wise, or rich, or great, 
But never can be blessed. 

— Selected, 
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MISCELLANY 

It's the little things you can do quietly to make 
others happy that bring in the largest returns, 
that pile up a bank account where no cashier nor 
robber can ^et at it. 

— Youth's Companion, 



i=>^ 



When one is sad and out of sorts for any cause 
whatever, there is no remedy so infalible as trying 
to make somebody else happy. 

— Carney, 



Those who bring sunshine into the lives of 
others cannot keep it from themselves. 

— /. M. Barrie, 



It is the trying that saves us rather than per- 
fect belief or perfect doing. — Heath. 



Resolved, never to do anything which I should 
be afraid to do if it were the last hour of my life. 

— Jonathan Edwards. 

THE IDEAL LIFE 

Better than praise and better than gold, 
And better than rank by a thousandfold, 
Is the bloom of health with a mind at rest, 
144 



MISCELLANY 

And peace at home as a loving guest. 
To have a heart that is warm within, 
To Hve a Hfe unstained by sin, 
To dare the right with a courage bold. 
Is better than hoarding piles of gold. 

— Virgil A. Pinkley, 



Every time we keep silent under insult, and 
loving and sweet under irritation and provocation, 
we have made it easier for all about us to do the 
same. — /. R, Miller, 



Whoso keepeth his mouth and tongue, 
Keepeth his soul from troubles. 

— Prov. 



Deal gently with the old, for they have come a 
long way; and be kind to the young, for they 
have a long journey before them. 

— Selected, 



Whoever wills to do the great things of the 
Bible finds them still true. — Selected. 



The standard of morals must become ever 
higher and purer as the years go by until we come 

145 



MISCELLANY 

''to the measure of the stature of the fullness of 
Christ/' — Selected. 



A w/ell-governed mind learns in time to find 
pleasure in nothing but the true and the just. 

— AmieL 



There is an upward lift which every man has 
upon his own soul and life. A man cannot lift 
himself by his boot-straps, but he can tremend- 
ously lift himself by his purpose. 

—Bishop McDowell D. D. 



HIS LOVE— IT PRECEDED OURS 

Some years ago two gentlemen were riding to- 
gether, and as they were about to separate one 
addressed the other thus : ''Do you ever read 
your Bible?" "Yes, but I get no benefit from it, 
because, to tell the truth, I feel I do not love God.'' 
"Neither did I," replied the other, "but God loved 
me." This answer produced such an effect upon 
his friend that,to use his own vv^ords, it was as if 
one had lifted him off the saddle into the skies. 
It opened up to his soul at once the great truth 
that it is not how much I love God, but how much 
God loves me. — Selected. 

146 



MISCELLANY 



WHEN HE IS OLD 



A celebrated theological professor of Princeton 
was asked by a skeptic : ''Doctor, how do you ex- 
plain this ? You say that 'Train up a child in the 
way he should go,, and when he is old he will not 
depart from it/ Now, how^ do you account for 
the fact that your Bill is such a dissipated fellow ?" 
The doctor replied : "The promise is, when he is 
old he will not depart from it. Bill is not old yet !" 
Subsequent years have shown the wisdom of the 
doctor's faith. Bill is old now, and a Christian. 

— Talmage, 



"He shall give you another comforter." 

'T will not leave you comfortless : I will come 

to you.'' 

The comforter is only Christ in another, more 

spiritual, more universal form. 

— Selected. 



God chooses conscious weakness as the chan- 
nel of the spirit's power. — Pierson. 



God is love and therefore all His outgoings are 
lovely and loving. The stream is as the spring. 

— Selected, 
147 



MISCELLANY 



THE BIBLE 



There are men that are all the time afraid that 
something will happen to the Bible. I should be 
if I had no more faith than they have in it. There 
is a mountain not far from my dwelling in the 
country, and I never got up in the night to see if 
it had not been stolen by somebody. Near by rolls 
the old Hudson, and I never said to myself on 
going to bed, ''How do I know that before morn- 
ing somebody will not run down with a quart pot 
and carry off that river !" Now, to me, the Bible 
stands as firm as mountains stand, and it is in as 
little danger of being overthrown as mighty rivers 
are of being carried off in a quart pot. I am 
never afraid that the Bible will be laid aside. I am 
never afraid of its being superseded. I feel a 
certainty that it belongs to God, that it is indis- 
pensable to man, and that, however much it may 
be neglected or run against, it will take care of 
itself, and maintain its rightful place. 

— Beecher, 



There is absolutely nothing that man cannot 
do without, except God. With Him happiness is 
possible anywhere and always. In deepest perils 
and darkest prisons, in the languor of sickness 

148 



MISCELLANY 

and the loneliness of sorrow, in the narrow house 
of poverty and the fier}^ furnace of pain, on the 
cross of disgrace and in the black shadow of 
death, men and women have been happy be- 
cause God was with them. Yea, they have sung 
praises so that the other prisoners have heard 
them. — Henry VanDyke. 



God cannot live in a heart which has become 
the home of hate. Either God or hate must go. 
And hate will have to go, if God is graciously be- 
sought to remain. — Shannon. 



God allures men from before with rewards, 
and scourges them from behind with poverty, ad- 
versity and trouble. Just as one shepherd car- 
ries a little salt in advance of the flock, and the 
other marches behind with a crook and a shep- 
herd dog. —N. D. Hillis. 



He who from zone to zone 

Guides through the boundless sky thy certain 
flight 
In the long way that I must tread alone 
Will lead my steps aright. 

— Bryant. 
149 



MISCELLANY 

We can do without praise; we are better off 
without it. But I do not think many of us can 
do without appreciation. If those who really care 
for us take some notice of it when we are trying 
to do our best. I think that is one of God's great 
ways of making us live our life well. 

— Selected, 



No man is strong in a crisis unless he has been 
gathering strength during a long period of prep- 
aration. — Selected, 



We need the balance of the two. Mind means 
reason, thought; heart means feeling, affection, 
purpose. The law must be written in both. We 
cannot trust ourselves to feel our way. We must 
know it. We cannot trust ourselves to know our 
way, we must feel it. 

— McKenzie in Homiletic Review, 



There are fevv^ things — whether in the outward 
world, or, to a certain depth, in the invisible 
sphere of thought — few things hidden from the 
man who devotes himself earnestly and unre- 
servedly to the solution of a mystery. 

— Hawthorne. 
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MISCELLANY 



There is no defeat except from within. There 
is really no insurmountable barrier save your own 
inherent weakness of purpose. — Emerson. 



Even Vergil said: *'A man can do anything 
that he believes he can." 



'The hills are dearest which our childish feet 
Have climbed the earliest, and the streams most 

sweet 
Are ever those at which our young lips drank, 
Stooped to its waters o'er the grassy bank," 

— Selected. 



Truths would you teach, or save a sinking land : 
All fear, none aid you, and few understand. 

— Pope, in ''Essay on Man.'' 



The highest, the ideal right must be always mis- 
understood and opposed, because the world is 
like an army on the march. The vanguard that is 
leading is the few, the seers, those who see and 
who care; and the great majority follow on, 
slowly, unconsciously, perhaps. But they oppose 
these men that disturb them and call them t6 some 
higher and grander thing than they are able as 
yet to appreciate. And so, since the world is grow- 

151 



MISCELLANY 



ing, he who cares for the highest things must ex- 
pect to be alone, rnust expect to be misunderstood. 
Must expect to be opposed and thwarted. 

— Minot J, Savage. 



''Judge not that ye be not judged." Why 
should a man who advances a new view on any 
subject have his intelligence, his loyalty to religion 
and even his moral purposes challenged? Differ 
we may and must, but why should we seek to read 
one another out of the counsels of religion, by dis- 
paragement, sinister interpretation of motives and 
bitterness of personal characterization ? 

— Ed. Homiletic Remew. 



MISJUDGING PEOPLE 

Speaking of how we often misjudge people's 
motives, and how sometimes, because we see at 
the moment but a part of what they are about, we 
reach harsh conclusions, a Western correspondent 
relates the following incident, which occurred at 
an auction: ''Among the lots put up for sale 
was one — 'A pretty pair of crutches.' In the 
crowd was a poor crippled boy, and the crutches 
were just the thing for him. He was the first to 

152 



MISCELLANY 

bid for them. An elderly, well-dressed man bid 
against him. There were cries of 'Shame! 
Shame !' in the crowd. The boy bid again, and 
so did the old gentleman ; the boy bid all he had, 
but the old gentleman outbid him once more, 
and the poor little lad turned away with tears in 
his eyes. The crutches were knocked down to 
the elderly man, who, to the great surprise of 
all, took them to the poor little cripple and made 
him a present of them. The crowd were now as 
enthusiastic in their praise as they had been in 
their abuse. — Christian Intelligencer, 



Attack is the reaction ; I never think I have hit 
hard unless it rebounds. — Samuel Johnson. 



To get people to change their minds is one 
thing, to get them to change their lives is another 
and much more serious thing. — Hodges. 



"Even that which he hath shall be taken away." 
That is the original endowment of which he made 
no use. — Selected. 



To live on, even when life seems a failure and 
the comforts of life are gone; to count patient 

153 



MISCELLANY 

living the real living, with or without comfort- 
that is to be truly brave. — Phillips Brooks. 
At every trifle scorn to take offense, 
That always shows great pride, or little sense. 

—Pope. 



If we could read the secret history of our ene- 
mies, we should find in each man's life sorrow 
and suffering enough to disarm our hostility. 

— Longfellow. 



For, alas ! alas ! with me 

The light of life is o'er ! 

No more — no more — no more^ — 
Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree, 

Or the stricken eagle soar ! 

—Poe. 



LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT 

Lead, kindly Light, amid th' encircling gloom 

Lead Thou me on! 
The night is dark, and I am far from home ! 

Lead Thou me on! 
Keep Thou my feet ! I do not ask to see 
The distant scene ! one step enough for me. 

154 



MISCELLANY 

I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that 
Thou shouldst lead me on ! 

I loved to choose and see my path ; 

But now, lead Thou me on ! 

I lov^d the garish day, and, spite of fears, 

Pride rul'd my will. Remember not past years ! 

— Newman. 



MUSIC 



Of all the arts beneath the heaven 
That man has found or God has given, 
None draws the soul so sweet away, 
As music's melting, mystic lay ; 
Slight emblem of the bliss above, 
It soothes the spirit all to love. 

— James Hogg. 



I WOULD 

I would we grew more gentle day by day ; 
I would that smiles more often came to play 
About our lips, to dwell within our eyes ; 
I would that we could see in God's fair skies 
More oft the blue and not the somber gray ; 
I would we grew more flowers on life's way. 

155 



MISCELLANY 

I would we grew less swift to chide and blame ; 
I would we used more oft love's other name, 
And that our hearts grew daily yet more kind ; 
I would we were more oft a little blind ; 
And in our homes and on the crowded street 
I would we heard the coming of his feet. 

I would we grew more like a little child ; 
I would our spirits were as pure as mild, 
And that the childlike faith might, too, be ours ; 
I would in all life's dark and lonely hours 
We, too, might put our hand in his and say, 
"Fm not afraid ; my Father knows the way." 
— Irene E. Engleman in Christian Observer, 



If love but one short hour had perfect sway, 
How many a rankling sore its touch would heal, 

How many a misconception pass away ; 

And hearts long hardened learn at last to feel. 

What sympathies would wake, what feuds decay, 
If perfect love might reign but one short day. 

— Selected, 



O little town of Bethlehem, 
How still we see thee lie! 

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep 
The silent stars go by ; 
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MISCELLANY 

Yet in thy dark streets shineth :-ii,i 

The Everlasting Light ; 
The hopes and fears of all the years 
Are met in thee to-night. 

— Phillips Brooks. 



WAIT FOR THE MUD TO DRY 

Father Graham was an old-fashioned gentle- 
man, beloved by every one, and his influence in 
the little town was great, so good and active was 
he. A young man of the village had been badly 
insulted and came to Father Graham full of angry 
indignation, declaring that he was going at once 
to demand an apology. ''My dear boy/' Father 
Graham said, ''take a word of advice from an old 
man who loves peace. An insult is like mud — it 
will brush off much better when it is dry. Wait 
a little, till he and you are both cool and the thing 
is easily mended. If you go now it will be only 
to quarrel." It is pleasant to be able to add that 
the young man took his advice, and before the 
next day was done the offending person came 
to beg forgiveness. — Selected. 



The love of earthly things is only expelled by 
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MISCELLANY 



certain sweet experience of the things eternal. 

— Selected. 



Some one has said, A definite aim is the great- 
est thing in the world after health and love. 

— Selected. 



To err is human, to forgive is divine. 

—Pope. 
The speeches of one that is desperate are as 
wind. — Job. 



He who tells a lie is not sensible how great a 
task he has undertaken for he will be forced to 
invent twenty more to maintain that one. 

— Dean Swift. 



The other day we observed that a man, to be 
remembered, must leave with the wiorld some 
word of writing or a spoken thought that takes 
deep root in the lives of men. We are now, since 
reading the news of the first engagement of the 
new war, inclined to believe that General Sher- 
man was immortalizing his name when he said 
that war was hell. — Selected. 

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MISCELLANY 

CONSCIENCE 

There is no witness so terrible, no accuser so 
powerful, as conscience, that dwells in every 
breast. — Polybius, 

What we call conscience or moral sense is a 
complex organization. It is the sentiment of con- 
science harmoniously educated and co-operating 
with a man's reason. It is, therefore, the ordi- 
nary thinking mind acting in reference to certain 
spheres of things in consonance with the emotion 
of conscience, which is the emotion that inspires 
pain or pleasure in view of things which are sup- 
posed to be right or wrong. And conscience is 
so blind that if you think a thing to be wrong 
which is as right as the throne of God, you will 
feel bad in the commission of it. And if you think 
a thing to be right which is as wrong as wrong 
can be, that conviction being strong in you, con- 
science will go on to that side. Conscience has 
no interpreting power except indirectly. It is 
the reason that interprets. Conscience follows 
with its sanction and stamps the decisions of rea- 
son with pleasure or with pain, with approbation 
or with disapprobation, when they pertain to 
moral conduct. I do not mean that conscience is 

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a Divine interpreter; for I do not believe that 
there is any such conscience as that. I believe 
that conscience is precisely like any other emotion. 
It determines what is right and wrong by what 
the understanding says is right or wrong. Con- 
science is an emotion that acts concurrently with 
intellect, and then gives force to that which the in- 
tellect judges to be right or wrong. And it gives 
pleasure or pain, according to the nature of that 
which is selected as right or wrong. — Beecher, 



So far as doctrines and duties are concerned, 
not conscience, but the revealed Word of God, is 
our one and only sure and safe directory. 

— Guthrie. 



Conscience has been compared to a clock, and 
the law of God to the sun. The clock is right 
only when it keeps time with the sun. And so it 
is with the conscience. It is a safe guide only 
when it is directed by the commandment of the 
Lord. — F, W, Richardson, 



If it cost too much to be a zealous and success- 
ful Christian, it will cost infinitely more to live 
and die an impenitent. '— Selected, 

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Bible religion costs self-denial; sin costs self- 
destruction. — Theodore L. Cuyler, D, D. 



I have come to believe myself, in the probable 
annihilation of those who never respond to God's 
offer of forgiveness, those who never believe in 
Christ and take Him as their Savior. It seems 
probable that the Bible teaches that the word 
"Death," as applied to the soul that always re- 
fuses to repent, is a death that means total ex- 
tinction. ... I cannot interpret the use of 
such a text as we have to-day to meany anything 
less than that ''the wages of sin is death." What 
do these words mean, if not plainly what they 
say ? — the extinction of life, the utter going out of 
the flame that was meant to ascend higher and 
brighter and purer on the altar of man's worship 
of his Creator and Redeemer. 

— From Sermon by Dr. Charles M, Sheldon. 



AMERICA. 

(In all, four verses.) 

My country ! 't is of thee, 
Sweet land of liberty, 
Of thee I sing ; 
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Land where my fathers died, 
Land of the pilgrim's pride ; 
From every mountain side, 
Let freedom ring. 

My native country ! thee, 
Land of the noble free, 

Thy name I love: 
I love thy rocks and rills, 
Thy woods and templed hills ; 
My heart with rapture thrills 

Like that above. 

— Smith. 



LOVE OF COUNTRY 

(From 'The Lay of the Last Minstrel,'' by 
Sir Walter Scott.) 

Breathes there the man with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said: — 
*'This is my own, my native land!" 
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned. 
As home his footsteps he hath turned 
From wandering on a foreign strand? 
If such there breathe, go, mark him well; 
For him no minstrel raptures swell ; 

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High though his titles, proud his name, 

Boundless his wealth as wish can claim; 

Despite those titles, power, and pelf. 

The wretch concentered all in self, 

Living, shall forfeit fair renown, 

And, doubly dying, shall go down 

To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, 

Unwept, unhonored, and unsung. 



CONVERSION 

A man that waits for a more convenient sea- 
son for thinking about the affairs of his soul is 
like the countryman in Aesop's fable who sat 
down by a flowing river, saying, "If this stream 
continues to flow as it does now for a little while 
it will empty itself, and I shall walk over dry- 
shod/' Ah, but the stream was just as deep when 
he had waited day after day as it was before. 
And so shall it be with you. — Spurgeon, 

Thus do the organs of the physical or material 
body cover over and blunt and obscure the senses 
of the spiritual body within. But as soon as these 
outward coverings are removed, or lifted, then 
do the senses of the spiritual body come into act- 
ive operation, and the scenes of the eternal world 
become both audible and visible. — Selected, 

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MISCELLANY 

THREE VERSES OF "AFTON WATER" 

How pleasant thy banks and green valleys below 
Where wild in the woodland the primroses blow ; 
There oft as mild evening weeps over the lea, 
The sweet-scented birk shades my Mary and me. 

Thy crystal stream, Afton, how lovely it glides, 
And winds by the cot where my Mary resides : 
How wanton thy waters her snowy feet lave, 
As gathering sweet flowerets she stems thy clear 
wave. 

Flow gently, sweet Afton, among the green braes, 
Flow gently, sweet river, the theme of my lays ; 
My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream, 
Flow gently, sweet Afton, disturb not her dream. 

— Burns, 



BEREAVED 

Dear little hands, I miss them so ! 
All through the day wherever I go — 
All through the night how lonely it seems, 
For no little hands wiake me out of my dreams. 
I miss them all through the weary hours 
I miss them as others do sunshine and flowers. 

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Day-time or night-time wherever I go, 
Dear little hands I miss them so. 

— Selected. 



CONTENTMENT 

Is it raining, little flower? 

Be glad of rain. 
Too much sun would wither thee. 

'Twill shine again. 
The sky is very black, 'tis true, 
But just behind it shines the blue. 

Art thou weary, tender heart? 

Be glad of pain ; 
In sorrow sweetest things will grow, 

As flowers in rain. 
God watches, and thou wilt have sun 
When clouds their perfect work have done. 

— Emerson, 



LAST WORDS OF A DYING SOLDIER 

''Can I do anything for you?" said an officer 
in one of our gory battles in America, during that 
awful conflict, to one of the lads in blue, whose 

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life was trickling away upon the green sward. 
^'Nothing," said the dying soldier, ^'nothing!'' 
''Shall I get you a little water?" ''No, thank 
you, I am dying/' "Is there nothing I can do?" 
said the officer; "shall I write a letter to your 
friends?" "No, I have no friends that you can 
write to. But there is one thing I should be much 
obliged to you for. In my knapsack you will 
find a Testament ; open it at the 14th chapter of 
St. John, and near the end you will find a passage 
that begins with the word 'Peace' ; please read 
it." The officer took up the blood-stained hav- 
ersack, took out the Testament, and turned to that 
chapter that your pastor and myself have read 
so often, or held up so often as a lamp in the 
valley of the shadow of death — the matchless 14th 
chapter of John; and he read: "Peace I leave 
with you ; My peace I give unto you. Not as the 
world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart 
be troubled, neither let it be afraid." "Thank 
you, sir," said the dying man; "I have got that 
peace ; I am going to that Saviour." And wing- 
ing its way from the poor bleeding body, the 
spirit ascended; and, as Noah stretched out his 
hand to the dove, the infinite Love grasped him 
and drew him in. For him to die was Christ ; for 
him to die was gain — gain everlasting. — Cuyler. 

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BOOK OF GOD 

Precious, precious, thrice precious Book of God. 
It can cheer when every other comforter is far 
away. It has running streams and sparkling 
fountains and deep wells at which he who drinks 
shall find living water. 

— Selected, 

Father, I thank Thee ! — Christ. 



167 



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